One Last Breath
by demonika
Summary: Kai gets selected in a movie... what a great time for Ray to show up and get stuck with them the demolition boys and Kai in Russia... and what a great time indeed to get selected as Kai s co-star...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one:

It had been so long since he had been in his homeland. Not that he missed it or anything but it just felt…uncanny. Stepping on his motherland meant going back, back to those bad days.

Sighing loudly, Kai looked around to see if anything had changed since he had left this place, _Nope._

Every thing was the same; even the trees were still covered in snow as usual. He gave his little house one last look from the outside, just the same. The roof was covered with snow as well as the front of the house that gave the impression that no one had visited it for a long time which was entirely true.

Picking up his bag from the road where the taxi had dropped him, he started to make his way towards the door. Once inside, he noticed that it was also the same. Not that he expected it to change but this house always reminded him of all the good times he had shared with his parents many years ago. The furniture was covered with dust and it was as chilly inside as it was outside. Making his way in the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea, his eyes fell upon the news paper which lay on the counter. _Now that's unusual, _Kai thought as he picked up the paper, _where did this come from? And its yesterdays'! must be Ross._

Dropping it back, he unzipped his bag and took out a bottle of coffee. Placing it beside the stove he opened the cabinet to find the already washed kettle and a bottle of tea. Confused he filled the kettle with water and placed it on the burning stove. Picking up his bag once more he started to ascend the stairs, towards his room. Finding the door open he went inside. Everything was just the same except…

"It's a wonder you're on time." The figure on the bed said not even looking up from his book.

"Tala!"

The older boy looked at his watch and continued, "or maybe a _little_ late."

Kai`s lips twitched slightly, forming a little smile. If it was someone else, other than Tala, they would be regretting saying it.

Getting up from the bed Tala held out his arms for Kai who had dropped his bag and was now making his way towards him.

Kai who gladly returned the embrace stepped away from the red headed blader.

"Welcome."

"I should be the one saying that as you're in _my _house." Kai smiled.

"My, my. Why so cheery?" the red headed smirked, "must be the after effects for living with Tyson and Max for a longer time than your health can take."

Kai ignored him and asked instead, "how come you're here?"

"Thought you'd need some company." He answered plainly. Sitting again on the bed he asked, "so why are _you _here?"

"lets go get a cup of coffee before we talk about it." Kai said and stepped out of the room and went down stairs.

Once in the kitchen, he washed two cups and filled them with boiling water. Adding sugar and coffee he placed the cups on the table just as Tala walked into the kitchen. He took the cup and sat on the chair, the book still opened in front of him. Taking a sip from his cup he looked up and gave Kai a questioning look.

"What?" came an annoyed retort.

"About my question?" he said an amusing smile on his lips. It was not like Kai to forget a something that easily, not even the monotonous ones.

"Oh…business matters." Kai said ignoring the grin and taking a sip of his own coffee. It felt good, the hot contents warmed up his insides. He took another sip. "When did you arrive here?"

"This morning. You could have stayed in your other house. I mean this place is way too small." Tala gave the kitchen a considerate look.

"So, how did you know I was going to come _here_?" He asked, ignoring his last sentence.

"I know you too well." Tala answered as it explained everything.

"yeah… it creeps me out but anyways, Where did you get the keys from?"

"Mr. Richard had them didn't he? All I had to do was ask him."

"How exactly did you know I was coming to Moscow?"

"Mr. Dickenson told me." Tala who was once again lost in the book responded uninterestedly. Being Kai's best friend he was always aware of his plans and everything. The crimson-eyed blader never kept a secret from him. Tala always knew what was on his mind and could easily tell when Kai was down. Being raised up in the abbey they knew each other, they both shared a ruthless past there.

"so, what exactly are these business matters?" Tala asked folding a page of book and closing it to show that Kai had his full attention.

"Wanted to sell the house, I can't keep it. It reminds me of them and I do have another house which is much comfortable."

"So, are you staying here today?"

"nah. Just getting some documents and then all I have to do is ask Mr. Richard to sell it for me." Kai stood up and placed his cup in the sink. The blade-breakers were having a vacation after the champion ships. Max was with his parents in America, Ray in China and Tyson in Japan. The team captain had decided that he no longer could take care of this house and there will be many poor people willing to buy it. Mr. Richard was his personal aide. He was neither too young nor old.

"What do you mean I can't go back to Japan?" Ray asked exasperated dropping his bag on the floor.

The lady, who was sitting on the other side of the counter exhaled noisily and ran a hand through her dark brown hair. Today, all she had been doing was explaining to everyone why they can't go to Japan. It wasn't a tough job but some people were impatient and lost their temper.

"Listen, the plane which was supposed to go to Japan has some problems. You'll have to wait for a few days."

_I can't stay here any longer. The white tigers are eating my head up, _Ray thought frustratedly and sighed. Not that they weren't his friends but it was too much work staying with them. Lee would ask Ray every now and then to bey battle with him while Mariah was always playing with his hair which really annoyed him. As for the other two, well eating competitions and running around were too much. It was fun at first but Ray thought he would gain too much weight and Drigger needed some rest too.

"Isn't there any other way I can go back to Japan?" he asked trying to think of ways to make an excuse to the white tigers if they invited him to stay with them. He didn't want to hurt their feelings.

"If there's an emergency, you'll have to go to Russia and take a ticket from there to go to Japan." The lady smiled at him.

"Ok, so when will I leave for Russia?" _Nice, I will get to see my captain's birth place, _he thought sarcastically.

"There's a flight in an hour, if you'll like I'll make your ticket."

"Sure." Ray was thankful that he wouldn't have to face the tigers. He waited as the lady worked. "and when will the plane leave from Russia to Japan?" after some time Ray asked.

"Don't know, But it's the all I can do if you want to leave. The helper will tell you the timings there." She smiled and handed him the ticket.

"Please fasten up your seat belts. The plane will be taking off in a few minutes. We will reach Moscow in about nineteen hours and uh… forty three minutes. Have a nice flight." A voice said and exited chatter started. Ray was sitting beside the window with an old couple beside him. He pulled out a magazine from the pocket of the front seat and started to look through the pages. After a few minutes the plane started to move and soon was flying in the air. Ray placed the magazine back in the pocket.

A thought crossed his mind, _What if I meet Kai there? He can show me around. _But he instantly shook it away, knowing well that he will never meet Kai and if, by any chance, did happen he will never waste his time on him.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

A small tug made him open his eyes. He rubbed them and looked at the old lady sitting beside him. "Your lunch, son."

Ray took his tray from her and nodded thankfully.

Kai unlocked the door, taking off his snickers and placing them in the corner he walked inside on the carpeted floor, Tala doing the same. The floor was covered with white soft carpet, making his way inside the hall, he saw Bryan sitting on a sofa with his portable video game in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" Kai asked placing his bag on the sofa and sitting alongside him.

"Hey." Came a distant reply. However, Tala who was holding mails in his hand sat on the opposite couch and answered "thought we should settle here for a while. We got bored of that cabin." Tala looked through the mail and threw away the junk posts. A strange package caught his eye. It was a light golden colored envelope with silver decoration on its corner. Inside was a light blue colored paper.

"Hey, check this out!" Tala cried waving the paper in front of Kai's face.

"What is it?" Kai looked up from the bundle of papers which were on his lap to see an excited Tala. _This better be good. _It was rare to see Tala so keyed up. Kai took the blue paper from him and scanned it, his expressions never changing.

"So what do you think?" Tala tried to read Kai's mind but his face was expression less. "You're not going to… are you?" his voice became doubtful.

"Of course I decline." Kai said in a matter of fact tone.

"What's all the noise about?" Ian's voice told them that they weren't alone. Sure Bryan was also in the room but he was so engrossed in the video game that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Ian made an attempt to snatch the piece of paper from Kai's hand but it was too high for him to reach.

"Back off…what the?" Spencer took the opportunity and grabbed the paper from him.

The letter was in Russian; clearing his throat he read the letter out loud. Bryan had paused the game and was also looking at Spencer. The room was silent the only noise was the shuffling of the pages on Kai's lap. Even though Kai's eyes were on the papers his attention was on Spencer's voice.

"'_Dear Mr. Kai Hiwatari,it is our personal invitation to inform you that 'tomber amoureux pictures' are willing to take you in one of our very famous movies…_' Is it for real Kai? But why him?" Spencer turned to Tala. "And if he decline one of us can go right? I mean _we _are his friends aren't we?" He gave Kai a quick look; he was still searching the papers.

"Do continue." Bryan said calmly.

"Uh… '_you are also allowed to bring your friends but there are only two other main roles left so we warn you that only your two friends can have an actual part in this movie and if the acting is not proper, we are sorry to say that they won't be selected. The set is in Moscow's vienne streets park. The movie will start on the morning of 23__rd__ December, 2009 and it will take it two months to complete it i-e 23__rd__ February, 2010. As we are aware that you will be free during this period so we hope that you will join us. We will be very proud to have you as the main actor. Yours genuinely, tomber company's manager.'" _ Spencer looked at the people in front of him. Kai's expression's told him that he was uninterested while the other three looked quite excited.

"There are two other parts hun? So I'm quite sure I'll be picked for one." Bryan said proudly.

"and I'll be for the other."

"no I'll be."

"you can't `cause I am way better than you."

"oh yeah?"

The four Demolition boys started shouting. Fighting who was better. Bryan and Tala's faces were inches apart while Ian was jumping up and down shouting. Spencer was re-reading the letter to make sure that it was addressed to the right person.

"no one will get selected." All the four heads turned to the source of the voice.

"and why is that?" Tala asked placing his hands on his hips.

"not a single one of you is perfect." Kai said simply as it explained everything. Getting confused looks he sighed and got up. Reaching the table, he Placed his papers there he then walked back and said, "I mean Spencer is too big, Ian is too short, you…" he looked at Tala and continued "are a girly boy and …"

"Hey, I'm not a girly boy."

Kai continued, "It isn't a problem Tala, I still like you and as for Bryan his eye sight is weak and they don't need blind actors."

"How can you say that?" Bryan asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"I can tell." Was the only reply as the phoenix master walked out of the room. He picked up his boots from the corner and walked upstairs toward his room. His room was just the same with black carpet and blood red walls. His bed was in the middle of the room and was made. _Richard must have hired someone._

The night's sleep was refreshing, and there had been no sounds from Bryan's room that night.

Tala rubbed his eyes and surpassed a yawn. The rays of sun were coming through his bedrooms window. He stood up from the bed and went into the bathroom.

After taking a quick shower, he went into the kitchen to find an old women standing beside the stove. Sensing his presence, she turned around to welcome him with a small smile.

"You are master Tala, aren't you?"

Tala just glared at her.

"uh… I'm Gloria, Mister Richard hired me." She smiled again.

"As a chef?" he asked.

"uh… well yes you can say that and for some other jobs too." She turned towards the stove and said cheerfully, "Pancakes with banana shake for breakfast. You go sit with all your friends in the hall, I'll prepare the table."

Tala did as he was told; walking into the hall he saw that the three Demolition boys were there.

The same voice, which had been heard so many times before said "we are going to land in Moscow's air port in about twenty five minutes. You are not allowed to unfasten your seat belts till the plane land. Thank you and have a nice day."

Ray looked out of the window; there was still no sign of light, meaning the sun was yet to show itself. He sensed the plane landing as he felt something funny in his stomach. The voices also started coming inaudibly through his ears.

Once outside the air port Ray was feeling cold. Everything was covered in white snow and he didn't even know where to go. He took a few steps and looked around, everything was so white.

_Maybe this was a bad idea._

Ray looked around to see if anyone could help him. Everyone was engulfed in their own matters, pulling children along with their bags and moving their hands to stop taxis. A yellow cab pulled in front of him. The man rolled down his window and took out his head and said something in a language which was completely unfamiliar to him. When Ray didn't answer the driver said something angrily pulled away. After a few seconds, he was out of Ray's site.

"I just lost myself in one of Russia's biggest cities." Ray shouted making heads turn towards him but he didn't care. He buried his face in his hands. A hand on his shoulder made him look up. A man in his late thirties or early forties looked down at him politely.

"what's wrong kid?" Concern was evident from his voice. His expressions were thoughtful like he was thinking about something very important.

Ray thought that the man was his only hope in this unfamiliar city so he said, "I don't know where to go." his voice made something shine in the man's eyes.

"You're Ray Kon aren't you? Well I know just the place. My name's Ross Richard by the way." The man extended his hand for Ray to shake.

"You sure this is the right place?" Ray asked the driver. Their car was standing in front of a large house, _no a mansion, _Ray thought.

"Yes, Ross asked me to drop you here." The driver voice brought back Ray to reality.

"It doesn't look like a hotel to me." He said more to himself than to the other, confused.

The driver gave a small laugh before clearing his throat and confirming, "It's not."

"am I allowed?"  
"you'll have to find that out by yourself." The driver smiled.

Ray walked out of the car taking his bag with him. The driver gave a brief nod before starting the car. Ray sighed just as the car pulled away. He then turned to face the front of the house. Running his hand through his hair nervously he started to walk to the front door.

The door bell brought the four to reality. No one made an attempt to open the door, only staring at each other.

"Go get it Ian." Bryan ordered turning to his game, he un-paused it and went up the stairs, towards his room.

"Why me?" he protested.

Another bell.

"Because Gloria is out of the house, just do it." Tala said sitting on the soft couch. Spencer had gone into the kitchen. When Ian didn't move from his place, Tala glared at him for a moment and made an attempt to stand.

"Ok, ok I'm going." He gave up and walked out of the room leaving Tala alone.

_The people living here aren't deaf are they? _ Ray thought as his hand made contact with the door bell for the third time. He was quite sure that there were people in there because he had heard voices coming from inside. Ray thought of banging his fists on the door. Keeping this thought in mind he held his hand up in the air, just as it was about to touch the door it opened. Ray looked at the small person who had opened the door

"I…uh…"

"What are you doing here?"

Backing away from the short person in shock he pointed his finger at him. "you're… you're…" Ray's suspicion was confirmed by the voice that came from the inside of the house.

"Who is it, Ian?" Tala's voice reached Ray's ears.

"Look who came to visit _us_ Tala." Ian gave Ray a wicked smile.

Footsteps were heard and the next moment Tala was standing in front of Ray.

"What are _you _doing here?" Tala glared at him with a raised eyebrow. He couldn't keep himself from grinning at the priceless expressions that the tiger master gave.

"I… uh … It was some sort of misunderstanding. So, I guess I'll be…" Ray stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Spencer. _They are going to eat me alive._ Ray wanted to tear his hair.

Tala smirked as Ray's expressions became fearful. _It wouldn't hurt just to play with him for a little while, _he thought and extended his hand to grab Ray's shoulder, "You're not going anywhere _Kitty._"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: "Start of something new"

Kai walked out of the bathroom wearing only shorts, towel covering his both shoulders, his wet hair falling over his forehead. He looked at his bedside table to see his mobile's screen blinking and a second later the ring tone was heard.

Kai walked up to his bed and received the call.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Master Hiwatari, you know Master Ray, right?" It was Ross.

"Ray Kon?" Kai said the full name aloud.

"Yes, I saw him in the airport. I think he was lost so I told him to come here. He is coming there with Mart."

"Ok, thank you Ross." With that Kai ended the call and placed the mobile in his short's pocket. He went out of his room and descended the stairs. He then walked into the hall. Seeing that no one was there he went into the kitchen.

He heard voices from the dining room so he started to walk there. Opening the door he saw that the light was closed. He saw a figure at one end of the table and three on the other. The middle on was holding the torch focusing the light at the one in front of him, Ray.

Looking at the new comer, Tala frowned. Whenever he was having some fun Kai would arrive out of the thin air.

The room was lit up by the tube light.

"What are you guys doing?" Kai asked eyeing Ray.

"uh… nothing." Tala answered. He then looked at Ray and said "game over." and walked out of the room with Spencer and Ian following him.

Ray was quite sure he had heard Kai's voice but he didn't dare look away from the blue eyes. Tala was much more frightening in person with his evil smirk. Now that they were gone he finally looked up at his savior.

"I thought you were in China." Kai said sitting in front of Ray where Tala had been sitting, he looked at Kai from top to bottom. He was only wearing shorts not that it was cold inside but somehow it disturbed him. Something else was different about him too.

Crimson eyes studied him but the neko jin was unaware of the expressions that the phoenix master gave, he studied his face. _He's not wearing any face paints_.

Ray noticed Kai's straight wet hair. He looked good in wet hair falling over his forehead and eyes. Shaking the thought he looked in the crimson eyes.

"What are you doing with the Demolition boys?" Ray asked unable to keep his thought to himself.

"What are you doing in Russia?"

"Flight problems and they say that no plane is going from Russia to Japan for a few days." Ray explained shortly. He knew that Kai wasn't fond of long explanations.

"Well anyway as you're here and I'm your captain, I'll have to keep you safe. I'll show you your room." Kai sighed and walked out. Ray also stood up and followed close behind. The walls were of light red color and spot less. The furniture looked very expensive, its color was black which looked great with white carpet. They walked inside the T.V room. Ray had never seen a screen as big as the screen in front of him, he stopped and looked at the screen, _Max will love it._

Kai cleared his throat to get the golden eyed blader's attention and walked out. They ascended the stairs, Kai walked to the left but Ray stopped once again, as his eyes fell upon the huge room on the right side. The door of the room was opened so Ray got a glimpse of the inside of the room. It had red walls with black carpet, the bed was so huge. He didn't knew where the room ended but for all he knew the room was larger than Tyson's whole house. Ray started following Kai once more. They went past a few closed doors. Kai extended his hand to the door knob and opened the last door. Just beside the door was another stair case which led to the third floor. They walked inside a room not as big as the one Ray had seen but it was still too big. The walls were of white color with white carpet and black colored bed sheet.

"it's yours." Kai's voice brought Ray back to earth. He turned just in time to see Kai's back disappear, closing the door behind him. He had so many questions to ask him, he was so confused. Ray walked past the bed to the closet, it was empty. He thought of placing his clothes in there but remembered that he had left his boots and bag beside the front door so he walked out of his room. Walking past the rooms he saw that the door of the huge room was closed. _Must be Kai's._

He descended the stairs and walked to the front door. Picking up his bag and boots he walked upstairs towards his room. He was deep in his thoughts so he didn't noticed one of the doors open. Ray bumped into Bryan hard, making him look up from his game. A sound was heard from the thing he was holding and Bryan's jaws twitched slightly.

"Look what you made me do." He shoved the screen in Ray's face. On it were the words 'YOU DIED' in blood red color.

"Sorry." Ray tried to sound confident but his voice was barley above a whisper, his heart beating fast. Ignoring him Bryan walked past him. Something hit Bryan,_ was that Kon?_ Turning his head he saw the long ponytail disappear in a room before the door closed, _yup definitely him._

_Hey… what is Kai doing with the demolition boys? What am _I _doing with them? _These thoughts rushed through Rays mind as he lay down on his bed. It was almost mid-night. He had been in his room for the whole day. Even though the bed was unbelievably comfortable but still something was bugging him. Ignoring the growl in his stomach he covered his face with the blanket. Ian had come to call him for the dinner but he had told him that he wasn't hungry. Switching sides made his stomach growl again. Throwing away the blankets, he stretched on the bed before escaping the soft surface.

Opening the door Ray noticed that the hallway was completely dark. Dark was no problem for the Neko jin but the thought that one of the demolition boys might jump out of one of the rooms scared him. Shaking the thought away from his mind he walked past the last room and descended the stairs. Carefully trying not to make a noise, he went into the kitchen and switched on the light.

Ray went to the refrigerator and opened it. He found the left over roasted beef. He was in no mood for eating something heavy so he closed the fridge and opened the cabinet beside the stove. He found the packet of pudding. After taking the pudding out he placed some milk on the stove to boil. Ray walked out of the kitchen and into the dinning room. He switched on the light and went into the closed door at the end of the room. The room was extremely dark; the only source of light was from the dinning room. Walking inside Ray found out that it wasn't a room but a narrow passage. He walked on when his eyes adjusted to the dark. Everything was dark in front of Ray. After taking few steps, his head bumped hard on the wooden surface, indicating that he had reached the end. Rubbing his forehead with one hand he reached for the doorknob with the second. The room was dark so Ray searched for the light switch. Switching on the light, Ray`s mouth opened in surprise when he saw at least ten huge T.V screens in the room. They were even bigger than the television in the T.V room. One end of the room, there was a rack full of CDs. Ray walked towards the shelf and saw that they were all video games. Taking out the CD of car racing he walked in front of one of the T.V and took out the CD from the CD cover and placed in the black CD player. He opened the screen of the television. On the screen were the words PLAY STATION 3 and than the video of cars started. Ray took the wireless controller from the top of the screen and pressed the start button. The video stopped. There was no volume so Ray took the television's controller and tried to increase its volume but nothing happened. This all was new to him so he thought that it was better to let it be the way it was. Returning back to the game, Ray selected a black and red car. After loading, the race started. It was difficult at first but after few retries he got the controls right. Getting board of the game Ray went back to the rack and took out 'WWE 2009.'

It wasn't his type so he placed it back on the self and took out 'sims'. Playing it was fun. He was so engulfed in the game that he forgot about the time. After some time the Neko jin sensed someone looking at him. He turned around and saw Kai standing in the door way.

"I see you've found quite an interest in these." He said still standing in his tracks. Ray stood up, took out the CD, and placed it in its cover and on the rack, he than turned towards Kai.

"Well yeah type of but the voice… forget it." Ray ran a hand through his long hair which were untied at the moment.

"The ear phones." Kai said simply.

Ray's eyebrows shot up in acknowledgement, "anyways, I wanted to ask you some questions."

Kai sat on the soft couch on which Ray was sitting just minutes ago and asked, "What questions?" He gestured Ray to sit beside him but Ray felt much comfortable in standing.

Ray cleared his throat "ah… whose place is this? And what are you doing with the Demolition boys and not to mention, why am I still alive?" he didn't knew where the last question came from but left his moth before he could stop it.

"This may come as a shock but the demolition boys are not enemies and I don't quite understand a reason for you to be dead."

"I don't mean… well they are demolition boys aren't they?"

"They are _friends_. _My _ friends."

Ray felt something inside him, so much like when you are about to cry. Kai had never called someone his friend not even his team, but the demolition boys?

"They can't be friends, they tried to take over the world and fought against us in the tournaments." Ray argued, convincing himself that he had heard incorrectly.

"Because they were in the abbey and were controlled by Voltaire." Kai said matter of factly, the abbey had been destroyed and Voltaire and Boris had been captured and locked up. "I just want to tell you to be ready for the day after tomorrow." He stood up from the couch.

"Why?"

"Tala will tell you everything, now sleep and about the milk… some one will clean it up tomorrow." With that he walked beside Ray, out of the room.

_He didn't tell me whose place is this._

Kai looked up from the papers when he heard footsteps.

"did you tell him?"

"I just gave him the rough sketch; you have to tell him the real thing."

"why me?"

"Because you are the one who is so excited about all of this and don't argue…" Kai said when Tala opened his mouth to say something, "you should be kissing my feet as I agreed to do the movie. And anyways don't you want a beauty sleep?"

"Shut up, Kai." Tala said angrily. The fact that it was up to him to tell the Neko jin all of this was disturbing.

"I don't have time. I have to go some where." Voices made Ray groan which went unnoticed by the two figures standing beside his bed.

"Where, the beauty parlor?" Ray's eyes flew open when he heard Kai's sarcastic voice.

"that's a great idea but no." Tala's voice was also marked with sarcasm.

"You just have to tell him. How long can that take." Kai's voice was irritated.

"I don't even know how long would it take for him to wake up." Tala said defeated.

"That's why _you're _here… to wake him up."

Ray sat up and rubbed his eyes, "I'm up."

Two pair of eyes turned to the owner of the voice. "What do you guys want to tell me?"

"uh…" Tala looked at Kai who gave him a glare that clearly said _tell him or else_, he than walked away leaving the two looking at him pleadingly even though the cases were completely different. Ray didn't wanted to be with the leader of the demolition boys alone while the red head didn't wanted to waste his time explaining everything to the Neko jin.

Tala's expressions changed from pleading to angry and he looked at Ray who was still looking at the door.

"Listen carefully; I am not going to repeat it. Tomorrow is our first day at the set, so be ready at 8 am. If you're not ready we will leave without you." when Ray looked at him confusedly Tala looked at him disbelievingly, "you _didn't _understand?"

Ray looked at him fearfully as if he would eat him alive.

"Well?"

Ray shook his head lightly, not looking Tala in the eyes.

"Aaah! Look we are doing a movie, I mean Kai was selected and there are two left parts so we are going tomorrow to see if they will select us. You are invited if you like, so be ready at 8 am."

Without giving him another glance, Tala walked outside. Ray let out a sigh of relief when Tala left. At first he didn't understand what had just happened but after a few minutes reality hit him. _Kai _was doing a movie. Ray started laughing at himself for being stupid, _Tala is just playing tricks on me._

He went into the bathroom to take a shower, warm water washing the tension away. He used his favorite shampoo which he carried with him everywhere just for the sake of his hair, its calming smell filling his nostrils. All the tensed muscles of his body relaxing as the hot water made contact with his skin. Changing his clothes he went back to his room, towel sited on his shoulders. He opened his empty closet and started placing his clothes in it. After he was done he was about to close it when a button caught his eye. He started examining it; it was of black color located just next to the closet. He pressed it and the half closed doors of the closet opened. The racks also began to move towards their sides reviling a room full of different clothes and shoes with a full length mirror in the middle.

A knock on the door made him look back and he pressed the button again. Thankfully the doors of the closet closed before Spencer walked in.

"Don't you want break fast?" he asked looking at him suspiciously.

"Be right there." With that Ray walked into the washroom and closed the door so that Spencer may leave his room. After a few minutes when he was sure that Spencer had left he washed his face and walked outside.

"I'm off for shopping." Tala stood up from the dining chair.

"Where's Kon?" Bryan asked standing up too.

"where are _you_ going?" Tala asked.

"Going with you of course."

"you can't come with me."

"sure I can." Bryan said folding his hands in front of his chest, "I need a new video game."

"A new _video game_? Do you think money grow on trees?"

"That's what …"

"uh…hey." All the eyes in the room turned towards the new comer. Ray walked slowly towards the table and took the chair next to Ian, keeping his eyes on the table.

"you can come as long as you hurry making up your mind what you want." With that Tala walked out of the dining room, Bryan following him.

"eh…did I miss some thing?" Ray asked Ian who was still eating.

"Nah."

"Where's Kai?"

"Doing work in the study."

"eh, right… and is there a library in this house?"

For the first time Ian looked up from his plate of pan cakes, "I never thought that Tyson's buddy likes to read."

"Kai is Tyson's friend too but he likes to read. Anyway, whose house is this? " Ray placed an egg in his plate and some toast.

"Kai's." Ian started eating again and didn't notice apiece of pancake fall from Ray's mouth.

It had been hours since he had been outside of this room. He didn't get enough sleep yesterday and now he was feeling dizzy. He walked out of the room and descended the stairs. The house seemed so quite. Even the sound of Bryan's game wasn't coming from his room; Kai noticed when he walked past his room.

Descending the stairs once more, Kai walked into the kitchen and opened the door of the refrigerator. Finding nothing good to eat Kai took out his cell phone from his pocket and dialed the required number.

"Hello."

"Bryan? Where's Tala?"

"In the shopping mall." , knowing what the next question would be Bryan said, "I'm in the car and Tala left his cell with me, he didn't wanted to be disturb so you could just trust me and leave the massage to me `cause you don't know how long he would take in there." There was a little regret in his tone.

"Tell him to bring something to eat, we're out of food." With that Kai clicked off the phone.

It was almost dusk and Tala hadn't returned from the mall. Bryan was bored to death. He had also forgotten his portable video game at home. He shifted a little in his seat, if only he knew how to drive.

A small tap on the window made his jump and he looked turned to look who it was.

Seeing the all too familiar face, he rolled down the window, "Mr. Ross? What are you doing here?"

"I was just going back when I thought I saw an 18 year old sitting _alone_ in Kai's car." He smiled politely at Bryan, "who are you with?"

"Tala."

Mr. Ross looked around the almost empty car park and nodded knowingly, "anything I can do to help?"

"Just buy some food for Kai."

"Nothing else?" when Bryan nodded, he gave a small nod and left.

Once alone, he noticed that it was getting darker every minute, none of the demolition boys were afraid of the dark not even Ian but he was. He rolled up the window and locked the doors.

After a while,

"Wake up Bryan, open the door." Tala was shouting his head off because the key was in the car and Bryan was sleeping. He started banging on the door. A few heads turned towards him.

"Bryan hurry." Tala shouted as a girl pointed her finger at Tala, "Let me in!"

"BRYAN!" Bryan opened his eyes slowly and looked at Tala. He was looking at him pleadingly and some shouting of Fan girls could be heard in the back ground.

Bryan rubbed his eyes and looked around. He then looked at Tala and realized what was happening.

Tala's expressions changed fearful as the shouting and running of the fan girls became nearer.

"OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR BRYAN OR I WILL…" his voice was dissolved into the shouting.

Knowing that his captain would surly kill him if he didn't open the door in time, Bryan unlocked the door and Tala got inside as fast as he could and started the engine. Soon the shouting died and they could no longer see the crowd of fan girls.

"That was close." Tala said after a few minutes of silence, "and what took you so long to open the door?"

"Uh… sorry?"

"It's your entire fault that they saw me." Tala was getting angry.

"Oh really? You could have just forgotten about your shopping and…"

"My shopping? I was shopping for all of us. Why you…"

"You are going to get us both killed if you start a fight with me." Bryan said calmly just as Tala's punch was going to make contact with his nose.

Tala withdrew his hand and muttered a soft sorry.

"It's a big day tomorrow lets hope that we all get selected." Ian said. Every one except Ray, was sitting on the dinning table waiting for their dinner. Mr. Ross had brought the food and now had gone with the documents.

Kai hadn't seen Ray for the whole day, he noticed. Gloria, their new maid was in her late sixties but she cooked great. His face was buried in the book so he didn't see Ray approach and sit next to him, but the sudden warmth told him that the empty seat next to him was now occupied.

"All of us cannot be selected." Bryan responded

"They always want extras don't they?" Ray asked.

"Yeah but who wants to be an extra?" Spencer answered.

"Where is this shooting taking place?" Ray asked.

"Vienne Streets Park."

"Who's the hero?" Ray asked another question. No one noticed Kai's body suddenly stiffen.

"Kai." Tala said simply.

Just then Gloria walked in with plates in her hands and thankfully no one noticed a pinkish color come to Ray's cheeks.


	3. Ready? and action!

Chapter three: "Ready? And…action!"

Somehow, Ray just couldn't sleep, maybe because that he now knew that it was Kai's house or because they were going to do a movie tomorrow. Ray thought about Tyson's house it was nothing compared to Kai's, his own house in China was so small. Ray sighed and stood up from the bed. He went into the bathroom to wash his face with cold water. Before going back, he looked into the mirror, the golden eyes staring back at his, expressionless. He walked back into his bed, this time the demolition boys in his mind. They were all totally different in person than they were in the battles. Tala, their captain was even funny and sometimes scary but above all he was friendly. Even Bryan and Spencer had been good to him. Bryan had even played a few video games with him in the game room. They all seemed pretty friendly. But Kai was just the same, cold. He didn't even talk to Ray directly. He sighed again and closed his eyes for sleep to come.

Not again, Ray thought as he heard voices. He pulled the blanked over his face.

"Come on, wake up sleeping beauty." Ian said.

"Yeah, remember? We have to do the movie." Spencer said trying to take the blanket off Ray.

Ray opened his eyes and let go of the blanket. He yawned which turned into prrrrr as he stretched.

He rubbed his eyes and looked at Ian and Spencer, "what time is it?"

"5 o'clock."

Ray stood up into a sitting position, "what! Why so early?" he yawned again.

"Just come downstairs before 7, Tala's commands." Spencer said before Ray could say anything else and walked outside the room with Ian.

After taking a long bath, with nothing else to do Ray walked into the dining room. Kai was sitting alone with a news paper in his hand. Ray took a seat in front of Kai and said in a small voice, "Hi."

Kai didn't move his head to look at Ray but just answered him by saying "hmm."

"It's a bit odd you know." Ray tried to start a conversation. Kai looked up from the newspaper. "Being in the same house and you not waking me for practice."

Kai just shook his head and went back to reading.

A long silence, in which Ray mostly looked at his hands, was broken when a man walked in with a small knock. Ray looked up to see a man wearing a black suit. Something was familiar about him. He handed Kai some papers and told him something in Russian. Kai took out a pen from his pant`s pocket and wrote something on the papers. Before leaving, the man gave Ray a small smile.

"He…he's…?!" Ray tried but his mind just couldn't remember the name.

"Ross?" Kai tried to help.

"Yeah Mr. Richard, _He_ told me to come here."

"So I have been informed." Kai said simply.

"What's he doing here?" Ray made an attempt to start a conversation again.

"He's my assistant…" he looked at the door and added more to himself then to Ray, "more like a friend." Kai again started reading the news paper.

After what felt like hours the silence between the two was broken by Tala who walked inside the room and sat next to Kai. His hair was also wet.

"What time is it?" Ray asked him.

"6:33." Tala replied looking at his watch. He rested his head on the table. After sometime he stood up.

"Where to?" Kai asked looking up from the papers.

"Going to check the guys, it's almost 7 o'clock."

"So?"

"Oh _come on_ don't try to act cool with me Kai." Tala rolled his eyes at Kai.

Kai just smirked in response. Tala gave Kai a look before leaving the room.

Ray was looking at Tala's back unbelievably; he just didn't say that to Kai and was still breathing.

"So… uh… when were we supposed to leave for the set?" Ray asked when he and Kai were alone again.

"Don't know." Kai furrowed his eyebrows and said in an annoyed voice.

Ray started looking at his hands, sensing the annoyance in Kai's voice.

Kai looked at the humiliated Ray and said, "I mean, Tala is managing all of this."

"You can drive?" Ray asked unbelievingly.

"Yeah."

The car took a sharp turn.

The demolition boys, Kai and Ray were sitting in a car, on their way for the set. Kai was driving with Tala on the passenger's seat and Ray along with the other demolition boys in the back seat.

Bryan, on Ray's side was playing while Spencer on his other side was talking on his cell phone. Caught between the two males, Ray just sat there quietly.

Kai looked at him from the rear view mirror and controlled his laughter as he examined Ray's disturbed expressions.

"Take a left turn Kai." Tala said as Kai nearly missed the turn, "what's with you?"

Kai shook his head lightly as a shade of light pink came to his cheeks. Ignoring the burning in his cheeks he answered, "Couldn't get a proper sleep."

"I think you should remove your sun glasses." Tala suggested sarcastically, which was ignored by the other.

Their conversation went unnoticed by the four sitting behind.

After a while, the car came to a stop in front of huge grassland which had wires on its sides. Inside were huge trailers and lots of people.

They walked out of the car and moved towards the entrance of the park, Ray saw a bodyguard wearing a black suit.

Kai gave him his I-D card so he saluted him and stepped aside to let them pass.

A man wearing blue jeans with a light brown jacket walked up to them and shook his hand with Kai, "we are Honored, really Mr. Hiwatari." Kai nodded. The man then looked at them and nodded in acknowledgement.

"This way, there is the director." The man pointed at another man who was talking with a cameraman. "His name's Antony Kendall and I'm Larne Crawford."

They walked towards the man who upon seeing them stopped talking to the other one and turned his attention towards them.

The man shook his hand with all of them and said, "Bonjour mista` Hiwatari et amis. Moi heureux `a avoir toi tous."

"What?!" Tala spoke up.

"I am sorry. I most of the time speak French so I forgot. Forgive my mistake." He gave a small smile and continued, "I hope all of you understand English." When everyone nodded he again continued, "Before, I just greeted you all so lets forget it. I will show you around. By the way, my names Antony Kendall."

The director started making his way towards the trailers with everyone following close behind, "these are the bathroom trailers." He gestured towards the five trailers. "The two you see on the left are for workers, two on the right for stars and the middle one for extras."

He looked at them expectantly and when everyone nodded showing that they had got it he gestured towards the big trailers, "the two there contain outfits and the third you see, the left one, is the makeup trailer."

The director then started walking ahead. After walking for some time they saw five more trailers and a tent.

"The tent contains the food but the lunch will be served to you. The three large trailers are for stars and the small ones for the extras." He stopped to look at Kai, "You can have any of the three trailers." He than looked at everyone else to show that he was addressing to them, "you are to write your own script and perform in front of me in two hours. You would be selected on your ability to perform. You should have your own individual presentation. I'll be there if you need anything." He pointed in the direction from where they had come, "good luck." With that the director left.

"Uh… so that means we have to work while you just sit around?" Bryan asked.

"Of course" Kai said and started making his way towards the last of the three trailers with everyone following him.

"Where are we going to come up with the ideas in just two hours?" he asked again.

"Not my problem."

"Where are we going to find papers for writing?"

"Would you just shut up Bryan!" this time it was Spencer who spoke up.

Kai opened the door of the trailer and went in followed by everyone else. The trailer was not big. It just had a sofa with a table and a T.V set. Kai walked up to the sofa and sat down switching the television on.

"What about the papers?" Bryan asked again

"You really are blind." Tala commented and pointed towards the table. Sure enough on the table were a few papers and pens; he took a paper and a pen and walked outside.

"Where did he go?" Ian's question was ignored.

Spencer did the same, taking the same things as Bryan, he walked outside.

"Where are you guys going?"

"Are you blind? They are going outside." Tala said annoyed.

"Thank you, for taking me out of my misery." Ian rolled his eyes. Tala didn't reply. When nobody did anything Ian just sighed and walked outside with a paper and pen.

"So are you going to work here?" Ray asked when Tala sat down next to Kai.

"Guess so, You?"

"Nah… I am going outside. It's better to think in fresh air." Ray replied. He walked up to the table and taking everything that was needed he walked outside.

Once outside Ray decided to explore the park for before starting. He opened the door of the extras` trailer. Inside were about ten to fifteen men.

"Uh… I am really sorry." Ray said.

"It's ok." One of them spoke. Everybody seemed friendly so Ray suggested giving the trailer a thoughtful look, "why don't you guys come outside? It's pretty small in here."

"We are fine." Another one spoke up, "you can come in if you like."

"No thank you, I was just checking." He gave them a smile and walked outside closing the door behind him.

Keeping in mind not to open the door of the next trailer, Ray walked towards the open area where there were no trailers.

"Do you want me to read it?" Tala asked when he finished re-reading.

"No."

"Ok I'll just tell you where this is happening. There was a boy who got lost in the forest and now he is lost deep in his thoughts…"

"I told you I am not interested." Kai said firmly.

"Thinking about his past, he is sitting on a rock with his diary in his lap. He opens the diary and starts reading it. After some time he hears a sound, like someone is calling him. He stands up…"

"Ok, ok I got the idea. You would surely get selected. Now shut up!"

"Stop interfering Kai. I am practicing." Tala said irritated.

"Go practice outside then and you have to perform too, if you haven't forgotten." Kai reminded, "Why don't you go outside and see what the others are doing?" he suggested.

"When will the results be announced?" Ian asked.

"Don't know. They said in an hour or so." Ray replied. Everybody had come back in the trailer after showing the director their act. Now they were waiting for the results.

'Turn right.'

"Why do they have to take so much time?" Spencer moaned.

"They have to re-watch our performance to make a fair judgment." Tala assumed.

'Turn left.'

After a few moments in which only the screeching of the car's wheels, coming from the video game that Bryan was playing was heard, Ray spoke, "so how did it go?"

"Fine." Tala replied.

"Mine was fine too except that I forgot a few lines." Spencer answered thoughtfully.

"What about you Ian?" Tala asked.

"Ok, I guess…" Ian said a hint of sadness in his voice, "I didn't have the time to prepare it."

There was again silence for a few minutes.

Kai cleared his throat and looked at Ray, "what about you?"

Ray's heart beat quickened, "uh… it was…uh…fine." His cheeks became red, his voice seemed unfamiliar to his own self.

Kai nodded and looked away.

The uncomfortable silence was eating Ray up so he tried to start a conversation, "what if I get selected? I can't do the movie; I have to get back to Japan."

"If you get selected you'll have to stay with us for a little longer." Tala replied.

"What about my team." Ray asked.

"What about it? Your team captain's here." Tala gesture towards Kai, who had his eyes fixed to the T.V screen.

Ray looked at Kai for a moment, _when did he develop interest in TV? _Shaking the thought he said, "Yeah but…"

"You can stay." Kai assured not looking away from the screen.

After a few seconds they heard a knock on the trailer's door before it opened to reveal Larne, the director's assistant.

"All of you have been called by the director. He's in the main grounds… uh… you know, where the cameras are."

Ray nodded in acknowledgement so the man smiled and closed the door.

He stood up after the door closed and looked at the others, "should we get going then?"

Tala nodded and stood up too followed by the others except Kai. Ray walked outside, followed by Spencer, Bryan and Ian.

The door closed just as Ian's back disappeared outside, leaving the two alone.

"Aren't you coming?" Tala asked.

"You go, I'll catch up." Kai replied making no attempt to stand up.

"See you there then." With that Tala also walked outside closing the door behind him. Kai just sat there for sometime then he took a deep breath and stood up. Unintentionally, he passed his hand through his hair before opening the door and walking outside.

The weather was fine. His mind drifted towards his team and how they had won so many champion ships together. Tyson, although naïve, was very strong when it came to bey battle. He was the loudest in the group and some times a pain in a neck but was pretty amusing. Max was the same as Tyson although not that loud and energetic but was also very powerful and Ray… he was the strongest and the most mature of the three not like Tyson or Max but more like…

He shook the thought away from his mind.

When they all reached the director, he stood up and clapped his hands, "I know you all have been waiting for the result of your presentation…" he paused when he saw a figure approaching them, "ah… mist `a Hiwatari, I was about to announce the results, so then…" he looked at the others who were looking at him eagerly, "we have made a fair decision based upon your abilities so there is no need to feel sad if you don't get selected." He paused and took a white paper from his pant's pocket, "uh… Mr. Ray and Tala please step ahead."

Ray looked at Kai just in time to see him pass a small smile at Tala who returned it and stepped ahead. He felt an unknown feeling deep inside him. He was looking at Tala's back when he heard the director's voice again, "?" Ray looked at him, his face expressionless, "Please step forward."

Ray took a step; the director smiled and continued, "I congratulate you both a job well done." For a few moments no one said anything then when everyone realized what had happened, the demolition boys started clapping along with Larne, the cameramen and the director. Unwillingly Ray looked at Kai; he was looking at the space between the two cameramen. Sensing his eyes upon him, Kai looked at him.

Ray looked away with flushed cheeks not before seeing Kai give him a concern look.

"As for the others…" the director continued when the clapping died down, "its up to you guys if you want to work here as extras or not."

Bryan shook his head, "I don't."

"Me too." Ian said.

"I don't want to work as well." Spencer said when the director looked at him.

"If you are fine with It." the director looked disappointed, "As mist`a Hiwatari's friends, you are always allowed."

The three nodded.

"So, let's began with telling you the story of the movie that we are suppose to do." He looked at the selected ones excitedly, "There's a teenage boy named Odio Nada…" the director looked at Kai to show him that he was going to play this character, before continuing, "Who loses his parents in a small age and becomes an orphan. He lives in orphanage, and then one day a couple comes and adopts him. They have two more kids, about his age…" he signaled towards Ray and Tala, "who play many trick on that poor unfortunate soul but what they don't know is that the boy controls the universe with his _eyes._ And then there is some fighting…"

Ray didn't hear the rest. The fact that his captain was doing a movie with _him _was just hard to swallow for him. He looked at Kai from the corner of his eyes. He was standing in his usual posture, arms crossed over his chest, whole weight upon one leg, eyebrows furrowed as he glared at the director. Ray looked away not wanting to be caught looking at him again, when Kai moved his head to one side.

"I hope you all got the rough sketch." The director gazed at them hopefully.

"Yeah but how does he control the world with his eyes?" Tala asked skeptically looking at the director, _what kind of a movie is that?_

"That's another story that's written in the script that will be given to you in the trailers." The director replied.

"How does he get the power?" Tala pushed on the matter.

"You can't ask 'how Peter Parker got the power by just a spider bite?' so just leave the matter for now."

_Now who the hell is Peter Parker? _Ray thought but didn't voiced it.

"Anyways, the real movie practice starts tomorrow, same time. You can wait in the trailer for your scripts. Your lines will be highlighted. Please practice them, thank you." The director nodded at them.

"Are we aloud to stay for sometime?" Ian asked.

"Yeah sure," The director said, "If you need anything, I'll be here. The scene which we will shoot tomorrow will also be highlighted. You can leave anytime today. The lunch will be served in sometime. Please enjoy." The director said and turned to Larne, "please bring in all the extras."

"Let's go." Tala said and turned in the direction of the trailers.

"I am so proud of you captain, I salute you sir." Bryan said honestly and gave Tala a salute.

"Thank you guys." Tala replied sitting next to Spencer, on the grass. Bryan sat down too.

"Uh… so are we sitting here?" Ray asked looking down at Bryan who just shrugged his shoulders.

"What does it looks like?" Kai's voice was marked with same irritation. He sat down too next to Ian. Ray sighed and sat down too, making a perfect circle.

"Weren't your scripts supposed to be handed to you in the Trailer?" Spencer asked.

"We'll take them before leaving." Tala replied uninterestedly. He was looking at the sky. He took a deep breath and said, "I want to fly."

No one knew what to say so they kept quite.

"If only I had wings." He continued. He laid his back on the grass, hands under his head, eyes fixed on the sky, "It's a beautiful world up there." Now he was talking to his own self. His voice was barely above a whisper.

Kai looked up too and saw the perfect blue sky. It was awfully fine today, he thought. He looked at Tala's face. He was peacefully looking up. Bryan had started playing again, Ian and Spencer were talking about something while in between the two was Ray, sitting quietly, looking at the ground. Kai tried to study his team mate's expression but his face held none.

After a few seconds the Neko Jin felt like someone was watching him. Unintentionally, he looked up and met crimson orbs. Although the contact was broken instantly but still something burned deep inside him, his stomach also felt funny. Although Ray wanted to look in those eyes but there was something about them that made him look away and break the contact. He started looking in the opposite direction. He tried to focus on the conversation going on between the two beside him.

"… That's what you think."

"You must be…"

Ray shook his head lightly and looked at the sky. After a few seconds he also laid down, much like Tala. In a few more seconds every one was lying, looking at the perfectly light blue sky except Bryan, who was still playing.

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A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter... I'll try to update ASAP!!! Stay till the end...


	4. the journey to the red square

Chapter one: "The arrival"

It had been so long since he had been in his homeland. Not that he missed it or anything but it just felt…uncanny. Stepping on his motherland meant going back, back to those bad days.

Sighing loudly, Kai looked around to see if anything had changed since he had left this place, _Nope._

Every thing was the same; even the trees were still covered in snow as usual. He gave his little house one last look from the outside, just the same. The roof was covered with snow as well as the front of the house that gave the impression that no one had visited it for a long time which was entirely true.

Picking up his bag from the road where the taxi had dropped him, he started to make his way towards the door. Once inside, he noticed that it was also the same. Not that he expected it to change but this house always reminded him of all the good times he had shared with his parents many years ago. The furniture was covered with dust and it was as chilly inside as it was outside. Making his way in the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea, his eyes fell upon the news paper which lay on the counter, _Now that's unusual, _Kai thought as he picked up the paper, _where did this come from? And its yesterdays'! Must be Ross._

Dropping it back, he unzipped his bag and took out a bottle of coffee. Placing it beside the stove he opened the cabinet to find the already washed kettle and a bottle of tea. Confused he filled the kettle with water and placed it on the burning stove. Picking up his bag once more he started to ascend the stairs, towards his room. Finding the door open he went inside. Everything was just the same except…

"It's a wonder you're on time." The figure on the bed said not even looking up from his book.

"Tala!"

The older boy looked at his watch and continued, "or maybe a _little_ late."

Kai`s lips twitched slightly, forming a little smile. If it was someone else, other than Tala, they would be regretting saying it.

Getting up from the bed Tala held out his arms for Kai who had dropped his bag and was now making his way towards him.

Kai, who gladly returned the embrace, stepped away from the red headed blader.

"Welcome."

"I should be the one saying that as you're in _my _house." Kai smiled.

"My, my. Why so cheery?" the red headed smirked, "must be the after effects for living with Tyson and Max for a longer time than your health can take."

Kai ignored him and asked instead, "how come you're here?"

"Thought you'd need some company." He answered plainly. Sitting again on the bed he asked, "so why are _you _here?"

"lets go get a cup of coffee before we talk about it." Kai said and stepped out of the room and went down stairs.

Once in the kitchen, he washed two cups and filled them with boiling water. Adding sugar and coffee he placed the cups on the table just as Tala walked into the kitchen. He took the cup and sat on the chair, the book still opened in front of him. Taking a sip from his cup he looked up and gave Kai a questioning look.

"What?" came an annoyed retort.

"About my question?" he said an amusing smile on his lips. It was not like Kai to forget something that easily, not even the monotonous ones.

"Oh…business matters." Kai said ignoring the grin and taking a sip of his own coffee. It felt good, the hot contents warmed up his insides. He took another sip, "When did you arrive here?"

"This morning. You could have stayed in your other house. I mean this place is way too small." Tala gave the kitchen a considerate look.

Chapter four: "The journey to 'The Red square'" 

"I am exhausted!" Tala exclaimed the moment he stepped inside, "I'm going to bed, see you guys at dinner." He said and walked outside the hall and walked up the stairs into his room.

Walking up to the sofa, Ray dropped himself on it totally exhausted. Bryan shifted the bag he was holding onto his shoulder, gave Ray and Kai a nod and walked towards the stairs with Ian on his heels.

Kai, who was still standing, sat on the sofa next to him. For a very long time none spoke.

Ray ran a hand through his hair, "mind if I ask you a question?"

Kai just shook his head carelessly.

"The thing is…it's not like you to work in a movie." Ray knew that the blue haired wouldn't want to reply but it was mainly to make a conversation with his captain.

"So?" Kai asked.

"Why are you doing it?" Ray pushed on.

"Tala." Kai said simply.

Ray didn't know what to make out of this. Was he doing the movie because Tala wanted him to or was he doing it because Tala wanted to be in it?

Which ever was the condition, Tala had somehow convinced Kai. Ray was deep in thoughts, he didn't even noticed Kai's mobile ring.

The device inside his pocket vibrated before the sound was heard. Kai took the mobile out of his jeans pocket and looked at the blinking screen. It had an unknown number written on it.

"Hello."

"Who is this? Kai?" it was Tyson's voice.

"Yeah it's me what do you want?" Kai asked in his usual cold voice.

"Kai… Ray was supposed to return to Japan from China about three days ago." His voice was marked with distress.

"So?"

"He didn't show up and chief's laptop can't find his number." Kai heard Max's voice, then there was a female's voice in the back ground, 'it's dizzy you moron.'

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" Tyson shouted.

"Don't scream in my ear." Kai shot back, and then he said under his breath, "ass hole." It made Ray look up at him with furrowed eye brows. Kai stood up from the sofa.

"Where could he be?" from Tyson's voice Kai assumed that he would start crying any moment. It made a smirk appear on his face when he imagined his face.

"He could be anywhere." Kai replied simply, "I have to go somewhere so I'm hanging up."

"DON'T." Tyson screamed.

Ray stood up too and asked, "Uh… is that Tyson?"

Kai ignored him and said, "Why?"

"Help us find him." After a few seconds he heard a sob.

"Ok. Here talk to him." Kai gave his phone to Ray and said, "Yeah."

Ray took the mobile.

"Hi Tyson"

"RAY!!!" Tyson exclaimed happily. Then when he realized who it was he said, "What are you doing hanging around with Kai? I have been worried sick. Can't you even call? Or keep your mobile on for that matter? Max came back from America only for you! What's the matter with you Ray? Making us worry…"

"Wow… Hang on buddy. I'm really sorry; I don't want you guys to worry, I'm totally safe." Ray said wittily.

"Why are you so happy? And where are you?" Tyson went on.

"I'm in Russia."

"So now you are having a vacation with Kai? What about _us_?" a hint of anger in his voice.

"What about us?" Ray asked.

"Tell me who said this, 'you, max and me are going to have a time of our lives this summer.'"

"Uh… its winter, Tyson" Ray smiled at his friend's mistake, "and I said this winter not summer."

"Whatever Ray" Tyson's voice came back to its original self, "when will you return?"

"I don't know Tyson, honest."

"What do you mean I don't know? Take a ticket and fly here."

"I can't." Ray looked over at Kai, his face was buried under a book but he was tapping his foot impatiently, "I think I should get going. Say hello to Max, chief and Hillary. Bye."

"But…" Ray ended the call.

"He's one hell of a guy." Ray said to himself, and then he added, "Here"

Kai looked up and took the mobile.

"Thanks Kai." Ray said earnestly, "I am going in my room."

When Kai nodded, Ray walked out of the hall and towards his room.

Once inside his room a thought cropped up in his mind, _What if go and have a look around?_ He shook his head. Ray knew that he just couldn't explore Moscow on his own, he would get lost. _Then we'll be busy with the movie and won't get the time. _He argued with himself. The first thought that came to his mind was to ask Kai to show him around. That seemed laughable so he concentrated on other choices. Ask _one of the Demolition boys? No, they are all taking rest; I just have to do it on my own._

He walked up to his bed and sat down. He was new in this country and there was an unfamiliar infatuation to see the motherland of his captain. He laid down and looked up at the ceiling. After a few minutes he stood up and looked out of the window to see that there was sometime before the darkness would spread. He walked into the washroom, washed his face, and walked out of the room.

Walking in the hall, Ray saw that Kai was still engrossed in the book. He walked as quietly as possible to avoid questions. The moment his hand touched the main door Kai's voice reached his ears, "where are you going Ray?"

Ray turned around to see that he was still reading the book.

"Well?" he asked not looking up.

Ray's mind went through the options, to tell the truth or not. If he told the truth Kai would surly say that he should take someone with him, for safety. He was always like that, always doing things that he wanted and not letting others do what they wanted.

"I am going exploring." Ray replied densely. For the first time Kai looked up in the golden eyes. He sighed and stood up.

"Let me come with you." His voice was marked with exasperation.

"No! I want to do it alone." Ray's voice seemed alien to his own self.

Kai furrowed his eyebrows, "Don't argue."

"I can take care of my own self Kai." He said and turned around and opened the door.

"Take this. Call me if you have any problem." Ray turned around to see Kai holding the same mobile on which he had talked to Tyson. He held it out for him. Ray took it from him, hands brushing slightly. He almost dropped the phone when their hands touched.

"My number's saved in it as 'me'. Tala and the other's numbers are also in there." He sat down on the couch again as an indication that Ray was allowed to leave.

He turned around and walked out of the opened door.

The weather had again turned chilly. After some time, clod air started blowing making Ray cover his chest with his arms. The blowing air was making it hard for him to walk.

He looked around him to find unusually modern buildings. The road was peaceful, not even a single car. There were also not many people walking.

Ray took the opposite route from the one that led to the set. After walking for an hour or so, Ray spotted a bridge. He quickened his pace and after a while he was standing at the end of the bridge. On its other end Ray could see high towers with red painted walls and a small red star above them. They were the most beautiful buildings Ray had ever seen.

Ray started walking on the bridge towards them. On the bridge, he passed an old man. Ray thought of asking the man about them, "Sir?"

The man turned around to face him, "Yes." He said politely.

"I was wondering…uh… if you could tell me something about them." Ray said pointing at the towers.

The man looked in the direction he was pointing. He smiled and replied, "The Bridge you are walking on son is called Bolshoi Moskvoretsky Bridge and it leads to Kremlin's towers and red square; a very fascinating place to visit."

Ray nodded so the man continued, "And the red stars on their top are symbols of revolutionary soviet power. They say that Moscow is the center of Russia and Kremlin and red square is hub of Moscow."

Ray looked interestingly at the towers and then at the stars,_ symbol of soviet power. _Ray repeated in his mind.

"Opposite to them is Gum, a stunning 19th century shopping mall with three glass-roofed arcades. Red square is the domain of tourists." The man concluded, "I hope that's enough."

"Yes sir, thank you." Ray nodded at him and extended his hand for the man. After shaking hands, the man nodded and left, leaving Ray to look at them with significance. After what felt like hours, he realized that the sky had turned pitch black but the Kremlin's towers were looking more beautiful with street lights switched on. Ray averted his gaze from the towers and looked into the Moscow's river. It was shinning with the reflection of the lights. Ray kept looking at his image in the river even when the gadget in his pocket started vibrating. Ray didn't notice it neither the sound, he was lost in his thoughts. After what felt like a minute, Ray looked away and started walking in the direction from where he had come. Again the phone started ringing, this time catching his attention.

"Hello?"

"Where are you Ray?" Kai's voice seemed different, there was concern in it.

"On my way," He answered, "Why?"

"Why weren't you answering earlier?" Kai ignored his question and asked instead.

"When?" he asked totally confused.

"A few hours back. Anyways, we've been looking for you in the whole city, where _are _you?" Kai asked again.

"Bolshoi something bridge."

"Stay there." There was a click on the other side and the call ended.

Ray walked at the end of the bridge. After some time he saw the same black car, in which they had went to the set, approach him.

The rear door opened, Ray stepped inside and sat down. Kai was on the driver's seat with Tala in the passenger's, Tala turned around and gave him a sympathetic look, _he's a dead meat_.

The engine of the car started, gaining full speed. The passing buildings looking like bolts of lightening.

"Do you realize it's after mid-night?" Kai's voice was full of anger, "You made us agonize, you made _me_…" he stopped in a mid-sentence. Kai knew perfectly well that he was being quick tempered brat but Ray had made him worry. He looked at him from the rear view mirror. The scary thing was that why was he caring about him so much? It was Ray's problem that he was late, not his. It was Ray's life to live, not his. Ray was looking down at his hands guiltily, cheeks glowing madly. _He looks cute with flushed cheeks._ Kai shook away the thought violently.

He took a sharp right turn, the needle of the speedometer crossing 160.

Ray looked up to see that they were going back in the direction of the towers. Tala was looking ahead, puzzled but didn't say anything.

"Have you visited it?" Kai's voice broke the disturbing silence in the car. Ray looked up at him perplexed. Kai's voice had suddenly changed; it was marked with a _little _softness and excitement. Ray looked at him through the mirror to see that he was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, a small smile clearly visible.

Ray just shook his head lightly, "Not yet."

A small smile appeared on Tala's face which went unnoticed by the other two.

The three crept inside the main door. Inside the hall, they saw that Bryan and Ian were sleeping on the sofas while Spencer on the floor. Seeing them like that, only made Ray feel guiltier. Tala patted his shoulder and said, "Not your fault mate." He assured making Ray feel better. He then walked gestured Ray to follow him into the kitchen, "Do you want anything? Gloria's asleep so you'll have to look in the fridge."

Ray just shook his head. Today's events were rushing through his mind, being selected in a movie, he going for a walk, Kai showing him the red square. It all seemed like a dream that never really happened. Ray sat down on a chair, Tala looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah," He exhaled deeply and stood up, not looking in the icy blue eyes. Before waking outside Ray turned around and said, still not looking Tala in the eyes, "I need some sleep."

When he passed Kai's room, he saw that his room's light was switched on. Ignoring the dispute to knock at the door and apologize, he kept walking towards his room.

After changing his clothes, Kai stepped on his bed. He looked up at the ceiling. His parent faces floating in his thoughts. The times in the abbey started playing themselves like a movie. The times when his grand father, Voltier, had pounded him so harshly whenever he lost a battle, brain washing him. The times when he thrashed his parents in front of him with a whip, three year old Kai looking at them helplessly, hatred begins to build up in his heart. He loathed that man for a grand father. He took a deep breath and forced himself to think about something other than his parents and grand father.

His mind wondered towards the demolition boys, they were his new family now with Ross and now Gloria. Every single member of the demolition boys had lost their parents. Tala, he mattered to Kai even more than his own life, and he was more than just a friend, even more than a best friend or a brother. He was his life, the one keeping him breathing. He washis heart, beating for him to keep him alive.

Tala being so close to him was the only reason for doing the movie.

The many times when the red head used to cry in the abbey and Kai used to wrap him up in his hands just to show that he cared and wiping the tears away from his face, the times when he would take the blame from Tala to save him from being punished. The look in Tala's eyes when Kai was successful at escaping the abbey, his eyes held the happiest feelings in them, the one that Kai had never seen in them before and was sure that he would never see again, all those times felt ages ago.

The three year old Tala tip toeing into Kai's room, in the abbey, and saying, "I can't sleep." And then Kai would move to make room for him and would stay awake for him, looking out for him. Then waking him up the moment the first rays of the sun entered and Tala would go back to his room. That was something Kai would never forget. Kai smiled on remembering Tala's scared expressions when Kai held a small kitten in front of him to pet, the only thing he was scared of.

After what felt like years, sleep took Kai in its comforting arms and his face became expressionless as he slept peace fully.


	5. jealous much?

Chapter five: "Jealous much?"

"We will start the first scene today but first go meet Dina in the make up trailer." The director said after greeting them and explaining the scene, "one hour only, do tell her that from me."

The demolition boys, Kai and Ray were in the set. Kai, Tala and Ray walked towards the trailers. The other three were waiting in Kai's. Their only ambition was to see their captain's act.

Ray knocked at the trailer's door. After some time a woman's voice was heard, "come in." so he opened the door and stepped inside, followed by the other two.

Inside, sitting on the chair in front of the mirror, applying eye shade on the eyelids, was a lady in her mid twenties. She looked at them and said excitedly, "ah… the star's of the movie." She eyed Kai for few seconds and said under her breath, "and cute ones."

Having the power to hear sounds of less frequency, the Neko Jin blushed with anger, while the other one gave her a death glare. The third one just grinned and cleared his throat, "Mr. Kendall wanted to tell you that you only have an hour."

Quite shocked of seeing Kai's glare, the lady smiled at Tala awkwardly and said, her voice a little shaky, "then we must begin at once." She stood up, grabbing some papers from the table. She studied them and after some time looked up and asked, "Which one of you is Ray Kon?"

Ray raised his hand slowly; she looked at him from top to bottom and said, "Nice." Then she looked at Kai and said, "You are the main character and you must be Tala." She turned towards him. When he nodded she continued, "Let's start with your make over first, and please take a seat." She gestured to Ray; he obeyed and sat on the seat in front of a large mirror. "The two of you, make your self comfortable anywhere in this trailer. I am going to take your dresses and a few more things."

After the door closed, Tala sat down on the sofa facing the back of Ray's chair with Kai beside him. The three sat quietly for some time then Tala asked, an evil smile on his face, "Don't you think the lady's cute Ray?"

The body beside him stiffened a little, waiting for the black head to reply.

"No." Ray said in a soft voice.

Kai's muscle's relaxed considerably but Tala pushed on, "but I thought I saw you blush upon seeing her." he said innocently.

Ray cursed Tala under his breath, he felt like his cheeks were on fire, he didn't reply. What was Tala's problem? Couldn't he see that he didn't want to discuss it?

"I just thought you both could make a cool couple." Tala`s grin widened.

Ray turned around, cheeks dark red, "She's older than me for haven's sake." He looked at Kai from the corner of his eye. Kai's face held uninterested expressions. He was looking at the nearby decoration piece, ignoring the conversation being held by the two.

Tala noticed Ray look at Kai and said, "Whatever you say." He had found out what he wanted so there was no need to push on the matter.

After some time the door opened reviling Dina with arms full of clothes. She dumped them on the floor and took a breath. She walked towards Ray and said, "Let's start with your hair."

Ray opened his pony tail, "Oh my God!" she exclaimed then cleared her throat, "We need to cut them."

Ray turned around to look at her, "No way! I'm sorry but you don't have my permission."

The sentence made a small smile emerge on his captain's face which, thank fully, went unnoticed by every one in the room.

"If that's the case, you'll have to wear a wig." She said disappointedly.

"Gladly." Ray said and turned around.

The lady started washing his hair, when that was done she blow dried them and combed then. Kai was watching each and every step keenly; there was something about his hair that had caught his attention.

After doing the hair, Dina moved to his face. She held the face powder in her hand, "uh…I'm not fond of these lady things." Ray said, eyeing the powder.

"No make up, just face's massage with the cleanser and face powder and yeah…a pinch of blush on. A light colored lipstick was also required but your lips are already red, I must say." She commented. When Ray nodded, she resumed what she was doing. Then she moved towards his nails. She dipped them a warm white mixture, leaving them like that, she turned around to let Tala know that next was his turn. She removed Ray's hands from the bowl and admired her work. Ray was looking _hot._ At last she gave him a wig of small length hair to wear. It was silky and black just like his original hair. After wearing it he looked at his image. He looked different, less of himself and more like a star. It wasn't bad but Ray liked his own image better then some one's else. He stood up and turned around, just as Tala stood up from the couch and walked up to the chair. He gave Ray an encouraging look and turned around to face the mirror.

Kai looked at Ray as he made his way towards the couch. _He looks much better in long hair, _the thought made its way into his mind before Kai could stop it. Kai shook the thought away just as fast as it had occurred. The Neko Jin looked at his studying expressions before sitting, theirs eyes met for a second but then Kai broke the contact and shifted his gaze on Tala's back. Kai felt Ray's eyes upon him for a few moments then the feeling ended when Ray sat next to his captain, making Kai's body stiffen once again.

After Dina was done with their make up and hair, she walked towards the pile of clothes and gave them their clothes to wear, "wear them and go straight to the director." She closed the door behind them.

The trio made their way towards the director who was rubbing her temples. When he heard their footsteps he looked in their direction and asked, "What took you so long?" then studied them, Ray was looking fabulous with small hair, while Kai was looking hot with straight hair same was the case with Tala but he was looking more sexy as compared to red eyed blader, "You all look good… God, I got the finest looking actors in whole of Russia." He commented.

"Thanks." Ray replied while the other two just stood as they were.

"So do you all remember the first scene?" He asked the three, "If not I can repeat it."

"Repeat it, please." Ray said politely.

"Go bring the parents Larne." Director ordered his assistant.

After a few minutes he retuned with a man and a woman. They both nodded in the direction of the director, who nodded back then clapped his hands, "ok then, listen carefully. That cabin you see," he pointed in the direction of a small hut, "Is the office of the orphanage and these two here," He signaled at the pair, "are your new parents and your friends here, he said to Kai "are your step brothers." He explained to the three boys. "So the situation is that the family is going to visit the orphanage to adopt Odio Nada, a special boy. Let's try." He said, "Take your positions and…" He said when Ray and Tala along with their parents sat in the car that was parked in front of the cabin, "and action."

"Let go of me you…" Tala said as he made an attempt to walk out of the car and Ray grabbed his shirt, Ray was a younger brother and the scene was that they were leaving him alone in the car and were talking Tala with them (the parents) in the office.

"But I don't wanna be alone." Ray looked at the man on the driver seat from the rear view mirror with puppy dog eyes, "And I don't want another brother." He said firmly, letting go of Tala's shirt.

"Now son, I am sure you will love him." The man, who was supposed to be his father said in an assuring voice.

"And cut…" The director shouted, "It was perfect, let's try it one more time and please more emotions in your voice." He commanded, "And action."

"Let go of meeeeeeee…" Tala tried to brake free from Ray's hold but it wasn't too tight and he fell out of the opened door of the car.

"Cut." The director's voice reached Tala's ear.

"Are you all right?" Ray offered him his hand which he took gladly and stood up.

"Yeah, I guess so." He dusted his pants. He looked over at Kai who was smiling at them, he smiled back.

The director rubbed his face with his hands, "Take your positions, and… action!"

"Let go of me you…" Tala said angrily and made an attempt to pull his shirt out of Ray's hands.

"But I don't…" Ray scratched his head, "I don't wanna be alone?" He looked at the director with a raised eyebrow.

The director rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand, "Cut and again… action."

Ray brought his spoon full of rice towards his mouth, "It has been a half day and we only completed the first scene, you were acting so well." Ray commented on Kai's acting.

He looked up from his plate and stared at Ray, "What ever."

"No seriously, hothead." Ian confirmed, the three demolition boys had also been watching.

Kai rolled his eyes at the shrimp of a person, he looked at Tala who was awfully quite. Tala's expressions were thoughtful as he stared down at his lunch, not eating it.

"What's wrong with _you_?" Spencer voiced Kai's thoughts. Tala looked up at him and gave him a small smile as it explained everything, _so not like Tala_, Kai thought.

Kai glared at him questionably, sensing crimson eyes upon him, Tala looked up, "What?"

"Your team mate just asked you something." Kai pointed at Spencer. Tala looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Leave me out of your _friendly _conversation." Spencer said trapping irritation in his captain's glare.

"What's wrong with you?" Kai repeated his question.

"Nothing, just thinking about… uh… stuff." Tala answered not looking Kai in the eyes.

"And I'm the queen of England!" Kai rolled his eyes, "Tell me." He demanded.

"Forget it Kai, I'm just thinking." Tala snapped. Kai gave him an alarmed look. Tala sighed and stood up leaving his plate on the grass and started walking in the direction opposite to where they were sitting. Ray looked at Kai and saw that he had also stood up and was now walking towards the other teen. The other three boys were also staring at the two disappearing backs.

"What happened?" Ray asked.

"Maybe I should go check." Bryan made an attempt to stand but Spencer held him back.

"Kai can handle it." Spencer said when Bryan settled at giving him a questioning glance. Ray turned his head in the direction where the two teens had vanished.

Kai reached out and grabbed Tala's arm, he turned him around to face the red head. Tala didn't protested, "What's wrong with you all of a sudden?"

Tala looked in Kai's eyes, "I don't know, just wanted to be _alone_."

Kai let go of his arm, "Why won't you tell _me_?"

"I am so sorry for the outburst Kai,_ really_." Tala looked in those red eyes which were full of emotions. He gave him a small smile, "My mind just drifted towards the day my parents died."

"It's not like you Tala," Kai smiled, "I mean to be sad about them." He explained when the red head stared at him.

"Yeah, I know." Tala agreed.

"You know that you can always come to _me_ in trouble." Kai took a step towards Tala and wrapped his arms around his shoulders in a tight embrace. Tala didn't protest; it was always cool to hug Kai. Tala's eyes fell upon a figure that was watching them from a distance, _Ray?_ Tala tried to study the Neko Jin's expressions but it was hard from that much distance, _oh no, he's gonna be so jealous, _Tala smirked at the thought but then the thought that Kai also liked the Neko-jin made him curse Kai for hugging him at such a bad time. He broke free from other boy's hold, ignoring his questioning stare and looked in the direction where he had seen Ray but the Chinese boy wasn't standing there anymore. Tala started running in the direction from where he and Kai had come. Kai grabbed his arm again, "You are acting so weird lately." He complained but Tala had no time to explain to Kai what had happened so he pulled his arm away from his grasp and walked in the direction where he had seen the Neko Jin.

"So what happened?" Ian asked when Ray sat back down.

"Kai had it all under control. They were…" He looked at his hands, his heart was beating fast as he felt like his whole body was on fire.

"They weren't fighting, were they?" Ian asked concern evident from his voice.

"What kind of a git are you?" all the heads turned towards the new comer who was panting, "of course we were not fighting."

"What's wrong with you today Tala?" Spencer asked. Tala sat down next to Ray who had started staring at his hands.

Kai walked towards them too and sat down on the other side of Ray. He stiffened a little, anger started evaporating.

"Well our friend here was obviously worried about _us_." Tala said putting his one arm around Ray's shoulder and winking at him.

Ray thought that Tala was making fun of him so he shrugged his arm off. He sighed trying to get rid of his anger; it was not like him to be angry about such little matters. _But Kai is my captain!_ Ray thought, _and Tala is his friend, he had said so himself._ Ray took a deep breath and looked at Tala, "I'm sorry about throwing off your hand so harshly."

Tala stared at him politely, "I can totally under stand." Ray smiled back at him.

After a few more minutes in which Tala and Ray chatted a little (Ray was forced to talk because Tala was asking him so much questions), Larne came with a clipboard in his hand, "Guys, we are going to a museum for our next scene, so pack up."

They all stood up and followed the man all the way towards the director.

"Good. Everybody here?" He asked looking around, he didn't wait for a reply and continued "The next scene is pretty hilarious and is going to take place in a museum. Odio's new parents have decided that to bring the three children together they should visit some place except for going straight home… so there his two step brothers are going to play tricks on him. Today we are going to practice this scene and tomorrow will be a real shooting for the scene. We only have two months so let's not waste them."


	6. A what?

Chapter six: "A what?"

"uh… um…Kai?" Tala was staring at the creature that was sitting on Kai's lap; its nails were dug in the material of Kai's pants, afraid.

Kai turned the steering wheel and the car took a turn, "What?"

"uh… why is there a cat on your lap?" Tala pointed at the black and white creature.

"A cat!" Ray exclaimed excitedly, "Can I see it?"

"It's a kitten for haven's sake." Kai said taking another turn, "and it's scared out of his wits so you can't see it."

After a few more minutes in which Tala was fixed with the front door while Ray was making attempts of laying his eyes upon it, the car stopped in front of Kai's house.

"It won't bite." Kai assured Tala, "and it's nothing as compared to you." He stepped out of the car, taking the kitten with him, hugging it close to his chest.

Ray and the others also walked out.

"What have you got there young master?" Gloria asked.

"Just call me Kai, and arrange a bowl and milk for it." Kai said. He sat on the sofa as Gloria walked into the kitchen. Ray sat next to him, unaware that the other boy's heart began to beat fast.

"Can I see it _now_?" he pleaded, holding out of his hands, Kai sighed and handed the little kitten to the Neko Jin. It seemed more secure around Ray as it started rubbing his head with Ray's hand.

"Why did you bring it?" Tala demanded. He sat down on the chair that was facing the sofa on which Kai and Ray were sitting. Ray was rubbing the cat under its chin while Kai was staring at the Neko Jin's hands.

Tala shook his head, _love birds, _"uh-hem." He cleared his throat to gain their attention.

Kai looked up in Tala's blue eyes, "He was homeless."

"Don't be too soft Kai." Tala rolled his eyes at Kai, "I know it's just to mock me."

"Mock you?" Kai asked smiling, "I would never…"

"Stop it Kai, you know how much I hate cats."

Ray looked at Tala's face, his face marking fake hurt, "That means you hate me too."

"Of course I do." Tala smiled. The other teens had gone to their rooms, telling Gloria that they were not hungry.

Gloria walked into the room carrying a bowl of milk; she placed it on the carpeted floor, "anything else?" she asked. When everybody shook their head, she walked out of the room. Ray dropped the kitten next to the bowl, it smelled it and started gulping it down.

"Look how adorable it is!" Ray exclaimed and sat down next to it. The kitten was about a week or so old. It was black in color with some white patches over its back and left eye, his chest was also white and also a small region of its feet.

After drinking as much as it could, it looked at Tala with his wide eyes as if giving him puppy dog eyes.

"Ok ok. Maybe you are cute but just don't come near me." Tala said to the kitten.

As if knowing what Tala had just said, it started making its way towards the red head. Tala placed his feet over the sofa, "I warn you, stop right there." Tala pointed his finger at the kitten. It stopped and looked at it with its head turned to one side but then started walking again in his direction.

"somebody stop that thing." Tala shouted.

"It's a friendly little creature that wants your attention." Ray said smiling watching Tala's fearful expressions.

The kitten tried to jump up the sofa but fell, Ray walked up to it and rubbed its head and said, "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

Tala took the chance and stood up, "you both can be its parents but leave me out of this."

"But it is so _cute._ Just pet it once and you'll see." Ray dared but Tala just walked outside the hall without giving it a glance.

"So what are you going to call it?" Ray asked after a few silent moments.

"Don't know." Kai answered carelessly, "What do you think?"

"I think it's a male because they are a bit heavy than females," Ray said then looked up to see Kai looking at him skeptically, "my theory." He smiled sheepishly.

Kai stood up too, "so are you going to keep it for the night?"

"Can I?" Ray asked his voice suddenly full of excitement, "I mean I can keep the door of my room open so that he can go where ever he wants."

"Oh come on, It's not a male." Kai said, "Let's keep the doors of our rooms open for the night."

"I think it _is _a male." Ray said following Kai to up the stairs.

"What ever." Kai answered and stopped at the foot of the stairs, "Think of its name." then started walking again, even in the dim light Ray thought he had seen Kai blush. He shrugged the thought away.

"You too," Ray told Kai before he walked in his room and switched on the lights, "see you in the morning."

"yeah see you." Kai said indifferently.

Ray walked towards his own room, carrying the little creature with him.

Kai walked into the washroom, taking his shorts and shirt with him. He took a short shower and walked outside with his shirt in his hand. He walked up to his bed and laid down on it, taking sheets over himself. He threw the shirt on the floor and closed his eyes. After a few seconds he felt the presence of someone else in the room so he threw the covers from above him and sat up. The room was dark so he rubbed his eyes, in the door was standing a figure. Kai didn't know who it was so he tried as hard as he could to focus on the figure's face. He saw a shade of golden in the person's eyes reflecting the light that was coming from the window, _Ray?_

"Ray? What are you doing over there?" Kai asked, there was something funny about the way that he was standing, his head was moved to a side while his eyes were in slit shape, his mouth hanging open. His eyebrows were furrowed; he was staring at Kai in a way that made him uncomfortable.

Kai heard rain drops fall outside, _why is it raining? The weather was just fine a min…_

Kai never completed his thought, the light of thunder came in from the window and Kai saw blood tickling down from Ray's neck, he had a big cut on his neck like someone had made an attempt to cut it off… but the next moment it was gone. Kai was breathing heavily, "What's wrong Ray?"

Another flash of light and Ray was standing a few feet closer. Kai held his breath, Ray was scaring him. There was another flash and Ray was standing at the foot of Kai's bed. Kai thought he saw a knife in Ray's hand that was reflecting the light, "Ray? Wh… what do you…?"

There was another bolt of thunder and Kai felt Ray's body above him, the blood on his neck now falling over Kai's bare chest. He tried to push him away but Ray was too heavy and Kai didn't have the energy. Another lightening and Ray was holding the knife in the air, he moved his face to the other side and Kai saw three scars on the side of his face, scratches of cat nails. Kai felt the sharp metal dig in his neck and it started sliding towards the other end of his neck. It was making hard for Kai to breath and the loss of blood was leaving him weak. Kai removed his hands from Ray's chest and clenched his own neck, to somehow, end the pain, _its not real!_ Kai kept chanting in his mind but he was still uncertain about it since the pain was real. Kai felt his own blood ooze out of the wound.

Kai looked at Ray's face; his mouth was still hanging open. His canines were pointy and larger than usual, his nails were also pointy. He removed his hands from his throat and tried to push him away from above him by applying force over Ray's face. For a few seconds nothing happened but when Kai increased the force a scream escaped Ray's mouth and Kai heard a sound of breaking bone and the next moment Ray's head fell off. Kai took in deep breaths and pushed Ray's body from above him, onto the floor next to his bed. He was still clutching his neck with his hand. After a few seconds he heard a sound of one surface sliding on another, unintentionally his eyes fell upon the point were he had pushed Ray's body, it wasn't there. Another bolt of light and Ray was standing at the foot of his bed, again.

Kai sat up, hand still holding his throat, looked around but nothing was there. There was no sign of Ray. His eyes fell upon a shadow, dreading, he followed it and the all too familiar figure was standing at his door.

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A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I last updated and i also know that this was a small chapter but... all I can say is that I'm really sorry. Do leave a review before leaving though, I love that!  
Thanks to everybody who read the chapter and yeah... I was thinking that maybe the chapter wasn't good and umm... I wouldn't mind editing it so, do tell me if its not good enough.


	7. Before I get you by my side

Chapter seven: Before I get you by my side…

Kai sat up, hand still clenching his throat, looked around but nothing was there. There was no sign of Ray. His eyes fell upon a shadow, dreading, he followed it and the all too familiar figure was standing at his door.

"I thought I heard you calling me." Ray said after a minute, "uh… do you want something?" he eyed Kai's hand that was holding his throat.

_Meow._

Kai's eyes started searching the room for the creature; Ray was holding it rubbing its head slowly, "just… just leave."

Ray gave him a doubtful glance, "do you have pain in your neck?"

Kai rubbed his neck with his hand, it was wet. He looked at it, only sweat no blood. He rubbed it again, there was no cut, _it was all a bad dream, _Kaithought gratefully_._

"No, just go." he laid back down on the bed. When he felt that Ray was still there looking at him he sighed and turned in the opposite direction.

"If you need anything… uh… just call me." Ray said politely, "good night." Kai heard the leaving footsteps of Ray, Kai sat up.

"Ray."

The footsteps stopped and started making their way towards Kai's room, "Yes?" Ray asked.

"Just do me a favor, don't let that cat sleep with you on the bed." Kai said slowly and stood up from the bed and started making his way towards the bathroom.

"Why?" Ray questioned.

"Just for today." Kai shut the door of bathroom behind him.

Ray sighed, it was all so confusing; Kai bringing the kitten then in the middle of the night calling him and telling him to leave, _Why did he called me in the first place?, _Ray thought, then Kai told him to not sleep with the adorable thing. Ray looked down at the kitten in his hands, it was sleeping peacefully.

Walking in the room, Ray carefully rested the kitten on the floor next to his bed. The kitten opened it's eyes slowly, "Captain's orders." Ray explained.

_Meow._

"Just sleep there for today or Kai's gonna kill me for disobeying him." Ray lay down on his bed and sighed, it was always hard for him to fall back to sleep once he woke up. He started looking at the ceiling, _Maybe Kai was thinking about me in his sleep, _Ray thought and a small smile appeared on his lips then he shook the thought away, if Kai was thinking about him then why did he tell him to leave so harshly? Ray sighed and looked at the kitten, it was sleeping, "What's wrong with me?" the cat's ears moved in the direction of his voice but it didn't open its eyes. Ray reached out and grabbed the little thing, he was about to place it next to him on the bed when he stopped suddenly.

"Uh-hem." There was someone standing in the door of Ray's room.

Ray looked up and saw Kai standing there in his usual posture, hands crossed over his chest, back leaned at the wall, "I was… uh… just petting it." Ray smiled sheepishly, _why is Kai here?_

Kai reached the button of the light and the next moment the room was illuminated, Ray covered his eyes due to the sudden brightness, "What?"

"I told you, didn't I? Not to sleep with the cat?" Kai folded his arms again.

"Well yeah but…" Ray started but Kai waved his hand to shut him.

"Place it right back." Kai demanded and when Ray placed the little creature back, making it open it's eyes, Kai sighed, "Tyson called, he wanted to talk to you so I told him that you were asleep."

"But I'm fully awake!"

"I thought you were asleep, so to confirm, I came here and seeing that you are not asleep, here." Kai took out the phone from his short's pocket, "Talk to him." Kai dialed a number and gave it to him, "I'll be sleeping so there is no need to wake me up just to return this to me." He said and walked out of the room.

For a few minutes only the sound of the dialing tone was heard then there was a click on the other end, "WHAT KAI?!" it seemed like Tyson was mad at Kai for some reason.

"Uh… hi to you too, dude." Ray replied.

"Oh! Hey Ray," the tone of Tyson's voice changed at once, "That jerk told me that you were asleep."

"Yeah well… Kai _thought _that I was asleep so it's not his fault."

"Why are you taking _his _side?" Tyson asked suspiciously.

"I'm not taking anybody's side, anyways what's up?" Ray changed the subject.

"Nothing much, so why are you still in Russia?" Ray wasn't expecting this, "you are not planning to return soon, are you?"

"I _can't_ come back, it's not like I _want_ to stay here." Ray lied; he did want to stay here, close to Kai.

"Kai is _forcing_ you to stay?" Tyson assumed grudgingly, "Why that son of a…"

"Nobody is not forcing me to stay here, I'm here on my own." Ray explained.

"Be all nice towards Kai like you always are but I know that he and his buddies are torturing you, just tell the truth," Tyson demanded, "and we will beat the shit out of our so called captain." He promised.

"I am so not being nice towards Kai and I am definitely telling the truth," Ray assured, "and _his _buddies are not torturing me."

"If you are not going to tell, me and the guys have to come _there_." Tyson warned.

"Come own Tyson, don't be like that, I _am _telling the truth." Ray smiled forcefully even though anger was boiling inside of him, "There is no need for you to come all the way here to assure my safety, I can take care of myself."

"No body said you can't but they are Demolition boys and he is _Kai._" Tyson argued.

"They are all nice and friendly and as for Kai…" Ray stopped.

"I knew that he had done something to you." Tyson said winningly.

"I am perfectly fine Tyson," Ray tried, "It's just that… uh… he never tried to do something bad to me before so why would he do it now?"

"You are right about before but now you are all alone in that country."

"I can take care of my own self." Ray shouted, it was becoming hard for Ray to explain all of this to Tyson.

"Whoa Ray, why are you so mad all of a sudden, I know you can take care of yourself. I was just saying…" Tyson started politely, "just be careful around Kai and the others, you know how Russians are… all hungry for blood and stuff like that."

"What?!" Ray asked, "Russians are not blood thirsty!"

"You just don't know Ray, be careful." Tyson replied, "Do you want me and the guys to come pick you up?"

"Not now," Ray answered then added, "I'll try to return as soon as possible."

"If you have _any kind_ of problems, you can always contact us."

"Thanks Tyson, it means a lot." Ray said honestly, "I think I'll call you later."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Ray placed the phone on his bed side table, he wanted to tell guys about the movie but he doubted that Kai would want Tyson to know that he was working in a movie so he had to keep his mouth shut. There was certainly something wrong with him, it wasn't like him to be mad at people all of a sudden, first at Tala and now at Tyson, two in one day, _both the times KAI was the reason for my out burst._

Ray took a deep breath to calm himself and stood up from the bed. He walked out of his room taking the mobile with him. He started making his way towards Kai's room but stopped when Kai's last sentence repeated itself in his mind, _I'll be sleeping so there is no need to wake me up just to return this to me._ Ray sighed and turned around and walked into his own room even though he would have loved to see Kai's sleeping form. Sighing, he lay back down on his bed and started staring at the ceiling.

Kai turned around uncomfortably, sleep wasn't making its way towards him after the dream he just had. He took a deep breath, _what if that was real? What would have happened if Ray was really dead? And I have detached his neck? _Kai shook away the thoughts, they were disturbing. He was fully awake, half of his mind wanted Ray to come and return him his cell; only to see the neko-jin's face once more before sleep could come and half of him wanted him to stay away because of the nightmare. Somehow, the part that wanted to see Ray was more dominant.

The sleep was just too cruel to come to Kai as well as to the neko-jin. Both thinking about each other, as the night dragged on.

The moment sleep wrapped Ray in its arms; Ray was forced to open his eyes because of the Rays of the sun coming from the window. Ray cursed the sun and stood up to close the curtains. He made his way back to the bed, on his way he stepped on a small soft thing that made a small screaming sound. Ray looked down and saw the small kitten limping towards the bed, it went under it. _I forgot about that poor thing, _Ray cursed himself and bent down to see the cat. The kitten was sitting in a far corner, looking scared. Ray extended his hand to grab the little fur ball but it moved away.

"It's all right," Ray said comfortingly, "I won't hurt you again, promise."

The little thing made its way towards Ray as if to see that Ray wasn't lying, smelled his hand before rubbing its head with his hand. Ray smiled and carefully and softly gripped it. He sat down on the carpeted floor with the kitten in hand and started rubbing his finger over its small head. The kitten looked at Ray with large eyes as if making puppy-dog-eyes.

"I am so sorry." Ray apologized.

_Meow._

"What?" Ray made his way under its neck and the little thing closed its eyes. After a minute or two it opened them again and looked at Ray, _Meow_. It seemed like it was trying to tell something to Ray. When he didn't understand, it started licking his hand.

"Oh… so you are hungry?" Ray asked knowingly. He stood up and dropped the little creature on the soft bed, "wait here." He told the thing and started making his way towards the bathroom.

After taking a quick shower and changing his clothes, he walked out to find that the kitten wasn't where he had left it. He looked under the bed but it wasn't there either. He started looking in the closet, in the bathroom, under the sofa but the creature was no where to be seen. Ray walked out of the room and started making his way towards the kitchen.

Kai walked inside the bath room to take a shower after figuring out that sleep wasn't meant for him. He took a small relaxing shower and changed his clothes. He opened the door and took a small step out only to be stopped by the creature that was looking at him. _Meow._

Kai gave it a considerate look before deciding that the little thing wasn't the type who would have hurt Ray and that it was just his dream. He bent down and took the cat in his hands. He rubbed its head slowly, "Are you hungry?" As if to answer him, it looked at him innocently. "Why not go and give you something to eat?"

He then walked out of his room and descended the stairs with the kitten in his hands. He walked into the kitchen and took a small bowl that was lying in the corner indicating that it was for the cat and some milk in a glass. He walked up to the round table in the corner and sat down on a chair. He placed the bowl on the table as well as the glass. After a small run of his hand over the kitten's head, he dropped it on the table too. He then took the glass and poured the milk in the bowl. The kitten smelled it as if to see that it was alright to drink then after satisfying itself that Kai wasn't trying to poison it, it started gulping down the liquid. Kai just sat there looking at the small thing. Kai looked at the door when he heard footsteps running down the stairs. The kitten had also stopped drinking and was now looking at the door to see who it was.

After a second or to, Ray's figure came running inside but stopped seeing Kai sitting there. Ray's eyes fell upon the kitten and he sighed, "Thanks God."

He then looked at Kai's face but he wasn't staring at him anymore. He was looking at the kitten who had resumed drinking the milk. Ray made his way toward the table and sat down on a chair.

"Where did you find it?" Ray said after a minute.

"I didn't find it, it found me." Kai replied not looking at Ray.

"Oh…" Ray struggled to find something to say because it was somehow hard for him to look away from Kai's face. _He hasn't been wearing face paints for the past two days, _Ray noticed. He knew that it was because they had to go on the set and had to make a movie but Kai looked more like himself with the face paints and Ray wanted to see him wear them.

After a painful silence in which Ray just stared at Kai's face, lost in thoughts while Kai avoided his gaze and was feeling a little un comfortable and wanted to ask Ray what his problem was, Gloria walked inside the kitchen.

"Hello boys." She greeted, smiling broadly.

"Hi." Ray smiled back but Kai just nodded in her direction and again started staring at the kitten that was now licking itself.

"What do you guys want for breakfast?" Gloria tied the apron and moved towards the stove.

"Anything will work for me." Ray answered.

"And for you Mr. Hiwatari?"

"Call me Kai. I'll take anything." Kai answered. He had never liked it when the ones who knew him and stayed with him called him by his last name. Gloria nodded understandingly and started looking through the cabinets.

After a few minutes the whole kitchen was filled with a sweet smell of the breakfast. Gloria started setting the plates with Ray helping her. Kai however, remained sitting there with the little creature sitting in his lap. After the plates were set and the breakfast was ready, they heard footsteps and the next moment Tala was standing in the kitchen door. He walked up to the chair that was in the middle of Kai and Ray. He nodded at Kai who also gave a small nod in return and asked Ray, "How are you _kitten?_"

Ray thought that Tala was asking about the little creature in Kai's lap so he answered, "He's fine, a little impish but fine."

Tala rolled his eyes and sighed, "I never thought that you would call yourself impish."

"Call myself?" Ray asked confusedly.

Tala shook his head lightly. He grabbed the big bowl of porridge and started pouring it into his bowl. Ray and Kai have also started eating their breakfast. Tala noticed that Ray was looking at Kai after every few seconds. _Can't keep your eyes off of him? _Tala smiled inwardly at the thought.

_Meow._

Tala looked at the small creature in Kai's lap for the first time and stood up, alarmed. Kai looked at Tala with a raised eyebrow.

"Why don't you let go of your fears?" Ray asked. The kitten yawned and stretched. Then sat up and started licking itself. "See? He's so cute."

"Yeah whatever." Tala made a face but sat back down on the chair. "What's his name?"

Ray looked at Kai, who was looking at his lap. "Haven't decided yet."

"Hmmm…. Lets see," Tala started looking at space then looked at Ray, "What about KaiRay?" He smirked when the color of Ray's cheeks turned crimson. "No seriously, that's a cute name."

Ray started looking at his hands to avoid any eye contact with Kai. Kai however, looked at Tala with a raised eyebrow, "How about RayTala?"

"I don't have a problem with that." Tala smirked. "Do you have a problem with KaiRay?"

Kai's eyes narrowed and a very light color of pink, that was barely visible, came to his cheeks, "No, not really."

"Its settled then, the kitten's name is KaiRay." Tala announced.

Ray looked up from his hands and at Tala, avoiding Kai, "I think that's a silly name."

"You sure?" Tala asked. Ray nodded hastily that made Tala's lips twist in a small smile and Kai looked at Ray suspiciously.

Tala took a deep breath, he was enjoying this but the look in Kai's eyes was scary. It seemed as though he would jump on him and tear him open so Tala was forced to shut his mouth.

"How about…" Ray's face became thoughtful and Kai and Tala looked at him to hear suggestion, "_Light?_"

"That's not a bad name." Tala said honestly. "But I still liked KaiRay far better." He mumbled that made Kai look at him bitterly.

"What?" Tala asked Kai innocently. Kai rolled his eyes at Tala. "Its settled then, light he is."

Tala and Ray looked at Kai to see if he wanted to change the name. Kai was staring at the little creature thoughtfully.

"So?" Ray asked. Kai looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. He stared in his golden eyes and no one spoke for quite a long time but they were forced to look away from each other when Tala cleared his throat.

"I'm not disturbing, am I?" He asked puckishly.

"Why are you acting like a pest Tala?" Kai smiled at his friend. He knew that Tala was the type of guy that wanted attention and he wasn't getting it since Ray was here now. But somehow Tala's behavior was totally devoid of jealousy. It seemed as though he was not doing it to seek Kai's attention or anybody else's for that matter. It seemed to Kai that he had something in his mind and he was getting a weird felling about that.

Kai looked at Ray again, "Light's good." He then stood up. "Be ready, we have to go to the set."

"Aren't the guys coming with us?" Ray asked.

Kai looked at Tala who shook his head lightly, "I don't think so."

"Um… Kai?"

"Yeah?" Kai turned around to look at Ray.

"Can I… can I tell Tyson about the movie?"

"I don't care." Kai said simply and turned around to walk out of the room.

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A/N: R&R guys... R&R!


	8. feelings that i just can't fight

Chapter eight: feelings that I just can't fight… 

"I was just thinking…" Tala started once the engines of the car burst to life and their journey to the set began. "Ray's here for the first time so why don't we go somewhere this weekend?" His question was directed to Kai.

"Whatever." It seemed to Ray that Kai wasn't paying any attention to what Tala was saying and it somehow disturbed him. Tala's question was about Ray and if Kai wasn't paying attention to his question that meant that Kai wasn't paying attention to Ray.

As if knowing that Ray was suddenly feeling down because of lack of interest of Kai in him, Tala punched Kai lightly on the shoulder, "I asked you a question."

"I _don't_ care." Kai answered not getting why Tala was acting like that all of a sudden. Tala had been acting so weird for the past few days, particularly after Ray had arrived.

Tala knew that they both liked each other but were far from admitting their feeling to each other. So, he had decided that _he _would guide them and bring them together but it seemed that it was going to be a tough job. Tala had also noticed that Kai was suspicious because of Tala's peculiar behavior.

Tala sighed, "I will take Ray and show him around. We don't need you, you're worth less."

Kai stopped the car and looked at Tala. Ray, who was sitting in the back seat, looked up as the car halted to a stop and saw that Kai was glaring angrily at Tala and the red head was doing just the same, looking at Kai with narrowed eyes.

"Hey guys, we have to go to the set." Ray reminded them. He didn't want them to fight because of him. When no one answered or said anything Ray took a deep breath, "Look, I _don't_ want to go anywhere."

The two on the front seats ignored him completely, "What's wrong with you Tala?"

"What do you mean? I am perfectly fine." He shot back, "Thank you for your concern." He said sarcastically.

Kai gave him a considerate look, "You have been acting weird lately."

Tala just kept looking at him.

"You know that you can always count on me if there`s a problem." Kai went on when Tala didn't say anything.

Ray's mouth was now literally hanging open; Kai was being so nice with Tala… so nice. _Why is Kai being so nice?_ Ray questioned. It wasn't like him but then the scene when Kai was hugging Tala popped into his mind. _Kai must really like Tala, maybe more than a friend_.

"You are the one acting weird. Ray comes to your house, you ask him to do a movie with you and then ignore him completely. Don't you know how to treat a…"

"Come on Tala, I'm fine with it." Ray spoke again even though he wasn't fine with anything. Tala was right, Kai was the one who told him to stay with him, in his house and then he had completely ignored him. He had left him alone in the house where there were demolition boys, not that they weren't friendly or anything, he enjoyed their company but…

"You stay out of it Kitty!" Tala said to Ray and he had to keep quite. "Why are you ignoring him, like he doesn't exist?"

"He doesn't need my concern or attention. He's fine with me not caring about him, right Ray?" and that's when Kai looked at the back seat and saw Ray looking at his hands. Kai's heart beat started to fasten and unknown feelings to wrap Ray in his arms and comfort him started to make their way towards him. It was _his _fault that his team mate was feeling bad, completely his fault. Maybe Tala was right, maybe he _was _completely ignoring Ray, ignoring his feelings. _Maybe I am just like my grandfather, not caring about anyone's feelings._

Kai didn't know what to do, he had never comfort anyone before other than Tala. The first thought that came to his mind was the blade breakers. He knew that they would have comforted Ray if they were here but the only problem was that they weren't here.

Not knowing what came to his mind but he took out his mobile and started dialing Tyson's number.

"What are you doing?" Tala asked. He was now one step closer to bringing them together, he had seen hurt on Ray's face and guilt in Kai's eyes.

After the dialing tone was heard he looked at Ray again and held it out to him, ignoring Tala, "Here."

Ray looked up at him, his eyebrows narrowed and lips pressed together.

"Just take it." Kai's voice was commanding so Ray thought it was best to do as he was told. He took it from Kai and stared at it blankly. "What's wrong with you? Talk to them."

"Hello?" Ray's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Um… Ray?" He heard Max's sleepy voice, "Is that you?"

"Yeah." He looked up and saw that Kai was now staring straight ahead and Tala was saying something to him in Russian.

"What's up…" He heard a yawn, "Dude?"

"I… I think… I'll call…"

"Is something wrong?" Max's voice was concerned.

"Nope."

"Are you crying?" Max asked, it seemed as though he was surprised.

"I'll talk to you later Max."

"You ARE crying!" Ray ignored him and clicked the phone off then handed it to Kai. A second later the phone began to vibrate in Kai's hand, he looked at the screen which was showing Tyson's number and sighed, "I'm sorry ok? I didn't mean to hurt you… look, I just lost my temper and I'm sorry for that. It won't happen again."

Ray looked at him, he had never said sorry to anyone and certainly not to him. There was something wrong with him today. First he was being sweet to Tala and then handing him the phone to talk to guys and now telling him that he was sorry.

"Just talk to them."

"I… I don't want to." Ray said slowly.

Kai grunted and clicked it on, "Yeah?"

"Kai?? Where's Ray? What's wrong with him?" it was Max.

"He's here."

"Give me the phone Max… Stay away Tyson… Just give it… KAI!! I am coming to take Ray back to Japan, let me talk to him."

"He doesn't want to talk."

"I am warning you, I'll be there in no time. What are you doing to Ray; I demand that you release him at once."

Kai rolled his eyes, why were they thinking that Kai was some kind of an evil jerk, _but I am! Just like my grandfather._

All the times when he had hurt people and make them suffer started coming to his mind and he wasn't able to hear what Tyson was saying. Tyson shouted something like police and the call ended.

He looked at Tala, "I am just like _him._" He didn't know what happened to him but the moment the words escaped his mouth Tala's fist made contact with his nose and for a second everything went black. Kai closed his eyes then opened them again. There was throbbing pain in his nose and a warm liquid was trickling out of it. He rubbed his thumb under his nose and looked at it, _blood_.

"Are you alright?" Ray broke the silence. He didn't know what had happened; Kai said something to Tala and in return got a punch on his nose.

"Who _told_ you that?" Tala asked angrily, Ray had never seen Tala so angry before, not even when he was being controlled by Voltaire. And the next moment Tala was hugging Kai, it was all so confusing for him.

Tala let go of Kai and saw that he was still in his thoughts, "You are _not _like him." He shook his shoulders lightly and forced him to look him in his eyes. "You are not."

Kai looked in those ice blue eyes, bit his lower lip and nodded just so that Tala won't worry about him. He was sure that he was cruel, evil, and cold and was a monster just like Voltaire. Tala was wrong, it was one against million. Everyone thought that Kai Hiwatari was a monster, like his grandfather. Even his own team thought that Ray was insecure with him around, _maybe Ray is insecure around me, _He didn't know why but the thought made something pinch in his chest.

"Let's go grab a drink before going to the set, that punch was hard." Tala confessed.

"One moment," Kai dialed the number again and held the mobile for Ray, "Tell them about the movie and that they are not invited at my place and also…" he looked into Ray's golden eyes, "You are not returning before completing the movie."

Tala took a deep breath and rested his head on the headrest; he smiled to himself, _another step closer._

"Can I take your orders?" the waiter asked the three.

Tala was looking thoughtfully at the menu in his hand while Ray and Kai were just staring at their menus expressionlessly.

"Three frozen peach and strawberry mix colada with two scoops of chocolate in each cup." Tala answered still looking at the menu.

"But I…" Ray started but Kai cut him off.

"You can't change his mind. He's gonna order for the three of us."

"I am sorry sir but," the waiter cleared his throat when Tala looked at him, "We don't have that."

"You have strawberry colada and peach too, right?" Tala demanded and the waiter nodded, "Mix them." the waiter nodded again, "You have ice cream?" It was not a question but the waiter nodded and quickly scrabbled something on the clip board in his hands. "We want extra large cups." The waiter nodded, "Anything else, sir?" Tala just shook his head and the waiter was off.

After the waiter was gone, Tala looked at the other two. Kai was still looking at the menu while Ray was staring into space.

"Why don't you go and wash you face?" He asked, it wasn't really a question but a demand. Both Kai and Ray looked at him. He looked at Kai and moved his head in the direction of a door in the far corner of the room as an indication that Kai should really go and wash his face. Kai took a deep breath and stood up, still looking Tala in the eyes said with clenched teeth, "I think I _better _go and wash my face." Tala smiled at his friend and nodded, "I think you better, and take sometime too."

When Kai left, Tala cleared his throat and turned to Ray, "So, Do you like it here?"

Ray took a deep breath and looked at his hands, "I don't really have some one to care about me here, do I?" he knew that Tala wasn't expecting this type of an answer but the recent event that had happened in the car left Ray thinking that maybe Tyson should come and take him back to Japan, he was nothing but a pain here and nobody really seemed to enjoy his company. _Of course they enjoy your company, Bryan plays with you all the time, Tala takes your side in every argument and Ian and Spencer, well they take you as their friends, _His mind started giving him reasons, _They care about you._

_And Kai? _Ray asked his mind. That seemed to left it with no defense so Ray smiled sadly; the only person he seemed to be living here for didn't care if he existed. The person to whom Ray wanted to be close to just seemed to be walking away from him.

"Look, everybody here cares about you." Tala started, he knew that Ray wanted Kai to care, not everyone else and Kai wasn't showing any signs that he cared about Ray. "Me and the guys, we all care but…" Tala trailed off.

Ray looked up from his hands that were placed on the table, entangled with each other, and into Tala's icy blue eyes, "I know that you care."

"But Kai… Kai is a totally different case, he cares about you. Sure he does but he just doesn't show it, thinks it's…" and the rest was just too difficult to make out because Tala started mumbling to himself. It seemed as if he was convincing himself that Kai cared, cared about Ray.

On the other hand, Ray was sure that his captain didn't care about him. It hadn't bother him before because he knew that Kai was always like that o everybody, never caring about them, about their feelings but now during his stay here, in Russia, he had seen Kai's true self, his caring self towards Tala. Kai cared about Tala even more than his own life. Maybe hat was the fact that was making him feel bad about not being cared about, maybe now because he was sure that Kai was just like any other human being who had feelings, who had love to give to others.

Kai had been in the washroom staring at his image in the washroom for what seemed like an hour or so. His nose still hurt and a little blood was still trickling down meaning that the bleeding had not yet stopped, other than that his face seemed normal. There were still patches of blood on the front of his shirt. He touched the tip of his nose and wave of pain ran all the way towards his brain, _I deserved it. _He said silently to himself. The flash backs of all the wrong deeds that he had performed in his life started playing in his mind. He saw himself holding a bey-blade of a little child and saw his expressions, _helpless. _He saw himself insulting Tyson, hurting his feelings. Discouraging his team after their victory saw their faces, _disappointed. _It was always like that for them, whether they won or lost, Kai would always lecture them about their skills, always discourage them and would never look at them as his equals, never looked at them as his friends. He looked down upon them, _But Tala, he and the demolition boys are friends aren't they? It's just that they suffered along with me, that's why I look at them as my equals. _But What about his own team, hadn't they suffered enough, from his torture, of how he treated them? No matter how harsh he was towards them, they were always there for him.

Kai looked at himself, eyed his face in the mirror then rubbed the blood off from under his nose; however, the patches of dried blood still remained. When he was sure that the bleeding had stopped, he washed his face from the cold water and walked out of the men's room.

He didn't have to look for his table because Tala's red hair was clearly visible from here. He started making his way towards them.

Both Tala and Ray were too engulfed in their own thoughts that they didn't notice Kai sit on the chair and give them both an awkward stare. After a minute or two, when he was sure that his presence would go by unnoticed by the two, he cleared his throat loudly making Tala and Ray look at him.

"Yeah I'm back." Kai said when Tala looked at him with are-you-back kind of expressions, "that was quite a punch." Kai mumbled under his breath but it seemed that the two persons sitting on the table heard him because Tala gave him an apologetic look while Ray settled for a concerned glance. Ignoring them both Kai took a deep breath and said, his tone uninterested, "So, the colada's still not here?"

"Nope." Tala replied and started searching for the waiter who had taken their orders. Ray on the other hand was looking at the menu, it seemed he was desperate to find something to do. Kai smiled and looked away.

After a few minutes, the waiter returned with a dish in his hands. He placed it on the table, making a little liquid from the big glasses fall on it. From under his arm, he pulled out a book cover and placed it beside the dish.

Tala opened it and after looking at the bill for a second, took out his check book, signed it and tore the paper. After placing it inside, he closed the cover.

"Thank you." The waiter said and grabbed it.

"Keep the change." Tala called out to the waiter who was already half way towards the ordering counter. The waiter turned around and gave Tala a thankful smile, "Might help him in some way." Tala said to himself and turned back to the two who were staring at him. "What?"

"Oh nothing." Kai gave him a smile while Ray just looked away, ignoring his question.

They walked inside the park and after covering a little distance saw the director pacing back and forth and his assistant patting his back, trying to calm the worried director.

After they were a few steps away from the two people, Kai cleared his throat and they both looked up. "See, I told you they would show up." The assistant told the director. The man completely ignored him and narrowed his eyes at the three, "Took you long enough to walk out from bed."

"Yeah well, we are really…" Ray started but the director cut him off in the middle.

"No matter, let's get going to the museum." He scrabbled something on the clipboard that he was holding and smiled at them, "You all ready?" when they nodded, he turned to the man standing at his side, "Lets pack up Larne, no wasting time anymore."

"Yes Mr. Kendall." The man said and walked away.

The Director smiled at the three, "I've told him many times to just call me Antony but the boy never listens to me."

Ray repeated his sentence in his mind, _boy?? _He gave the director a look, he seemed to be in his late thirties while his assistant looked a year or so younger than him, "Um… can I ask you something?" Ray looked at him doubtfully.

"Ask away dear boy." The man seemed a little too enthusiastic today.

"How old are you Mr. Kendall?" Tala and Kai looked at him skeptically while the man towards whom the question was directed smiled at him, "Ah, a nice one. I'm in my late fifties, would doubtless turn fifty eight next July but you won't be here to wish me." He concluded sadly, not looking at the surprised expressions of the three standing in front of him.

"And what about Larne, how old is he?" Ray asked finally when he was over the shock.

"I don't quite know, maybe twenty two or three." He said thoughtfully. "He has been working with me for the past five years, a very talented kid. I'm thinking about making him a star in my next film, might make the boy happy." He seemed to go on and on about his time with Larne. "Well actually, he's my brother's son; I was thinking about fixing him up with my daughter, a talented girl… you know the makeup artist. But the only problem is, she's a year older than him and she doesn't want to be with someone younger than her, might have her eye on somebody." The man stopped to take a breath, unaware that the three were not interested in his personal life, "When I met her mother, oh she was standing under the shade of the tree, her long wind blowing with the wind…"

Kai didn't know what the man was saying but it made an image form in his mind, like a movie scene. He saw Ray standing under the shade of a very big tree, with a book in his hands, his hair were untied and were blowing with the wind, making them cover most of his face. The part that was exposed looked so beautiful, like he was seeing an angel. He just kept staring at him for a very long time. The intensity of his glare made him look at Kai, he gave him a small smile and started walking away. That's when He realized that it was his chance now or he would fade away from his life forever leaving a memory that he would always remember. He started running towards him and grabbed his hand, oh so soft and smooth, he was unable to even breathe. His heart started beating faster and faster as the seconds past. Ray turned his head and looked at him; his golden eyes making him sink in them. He forgot why had he grabbed him, forgot everything and just stared in his beautiful eyes. After a few minutes, Ray cleared his throat and looked at their hands. He didn't try to pull his hand away from his. When the eye contact died, Kai was pulled back to reality and he bent down with Ray's hand still in his and kissed it softly. He took a breath, unable to bring himself to say those words that he was longing to speak, finally he found his voice and said to the boy standing in front of him…

"Kai?" Tala's voice reached his ears and he looked around confused at what had just happened. He was standing with the director looking into distance and Tala and Ray looking at him assumedly. They all seemed a bit taller than him, Kai noticed and that's when he realized that he was on his knees, his hand extended in front of him in a way that he was grabbing a hand. He looked at Tala again and saw that he was holding back his laughter. A shade of pink appeared to his cheeks and he stood up, dusting his pants. Something was wrong with him and he knew it. Why was he imagining Ray and himself in the scene that the director was telling? He looked at Ray but he was intentionally looking away. He was trying his hard to not to laugh at his team captain.

Kai sighed, he was making a fool of himself in front of his comrades.

"And you know what she said?" the director's eyes came into focus and he looked at the three, "She agreed to my marriage proposal. Oh, that was the happiest day of my life."

Tala ignored him and whispered to Kai, "So, who were you proposing to?" A shade of red reappeared to his cheeks, as soon as it had disappeared. He tried to ignore Tala but he nudged his elbow in his ribs and when Kai looked at him, he gave him a wink, "I won't tell anyone." Kai growled at him trying to making him to stop making fun of him.

Kai's eyes fell upon Ray who was talking to the director and then he looked back at Tala who was looking at him with evil expressions.

Kai definitely needed to see a doctor. He was crazy and he knew it. First the nightmare about Ray then not caring about his feelings and thinking that he was like his grandfather and now this. He had lost his mind in the world of his dreams lately. It was so not like him to act like that in public and what would Ray be thinking about him now, that he was mad and should be sent to an asylum?

Kai was getting a feeling that Tala had a plan up his sleeve and that disturbed him, you would be in grave danger if Tala was planning something against you. Kai closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths trying to calm his nerves. Thankfully, Larne returned.

"The two buses are full, third one of the major stars and staff. Everything is ready, just waiting for your commands Mr. Kendall."

"Ready?" He asked the three who nodded, and then he turned to the other man, "Let's get going then."

* * *

The time in the museum passed away quickly. It seemed to Kai that Ray and Tala were having a great time. They would start laughing every now and then when the director shouted 'action'. Their cheerful mood was also making the others smile too.  
Kai smiled at Tala when their eyes met and that was all it took for him to burst out laughing.

"Cut!" they heard the director's voice.

"So-sorry." Tala muttered in the middle of a laugh.

"What's so funny _now_?" The director asked impatiently. It was like he was the only one in a gloomy mood. He was tapping his foot on the floor.

"It's just…" Tala looked at Kai and winked, "Nothing."

"Shall we start again then?"

Tala nodded.

"Okay then, Take your positions…" the director leaned back in his seat, "And action!"

"Look, over there!" Ray shouted excitedly, tugging on the man's, who was supposed to be his father in the movie, shirt.

"Why are you acting like a baby today?" The man jerked his shirt away from Ray's grasp.

Ray made a face and looked at Kai, trying to keep his face straight; Kai was leaned on the corner of the wall his eyes close. It was like he didn't care that they were doing a movie, "Why don't you say anything to _him_?" Ray looked at the script helper to see if he had said his lines right. The man smiled at him encouragingly.

"Forget it little bro. They hate us both because they have their _perfect_ kid." Tala walked up to Ray and placed his arm around his shoulders and looked pointedly at their parents.  
The man shook his head lightly, "What's gotten into you boys?"  
After that they all felt silent, waiting for Kai to speak his line but it seemed that he wasn't listening to them. Just as the director opened his mouth, they heard Kai's voice, his eyes still closed and back leaned, "It's alright, I can go back from where I came from." His voice was emotionless.  
The director sighed heavily and placed his head in his hands, "keep rolling please." He said helplessly to the camera man.

i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i

After that they kept rolling constantly until the lunch break, the director had left them saying he had headache.

"For heaven's sake," The director pleaded to Kai, "Put some emotions in your voice." They were again shooting after the lunch break. "Let's start again and please some emotions, Odio is a sweet child not a ..." He cleared his throat and Kai narrowed his eyes at the director. "Take 56 and Action."

"It's alright…" Kai assured his new parents. He then smiled at his siblings, "I can go back from where I came from."

"And cut." The director yelled. Everyone looked at him expectantly, "That was a perfect take except for the smiling effort." He tried to encourage Kai, "Try to make yourself _smile, _not the one that looks like are smirking please."

When Kai sighed and nodded, the director smiled enthusiastically, "take 57 and action."

"It's alright." Kai tried to smile but he was in no mood of doing that. So, the smile turned into a frown. "I can go back to…" He looked at the director, "This is not working Mr. Kendall. I'll have to take a break before continuing."

The director nodded, "Five minutes people." He informed them all.

"What's wrong with a small smile?" Tala asked. He, Kai and Ray were now standing together. "I mean, your acting is perfect."

"Yeah… as if." He rolled his eyes. "It's just that I don't_ want_ to smile."

"Look, it's just acting. It's not whether you like it or not… It's the acting that matters." Tala explained as if he had been acting all of his life.

A pat on Kai's back made him look up, "He's right. Performing or acting is always something you don't want but you just have to do it." Mr. Kendall explained, "It doesn't depend upon the mood of the actor. He is _forced_ to act and they have to live that way." Without giving Kai the chance to respond, he patted his back once more, "Try to think it this way… your girlfriend is kidnapped and the hijackers are forcing you to work or the girl gets it." He smiled and left.

"What was that?" Tala asked still looking at the director's disappearing back, "I think he's a little cracked."

"Me too." Ray nodded.

"Perfect." The director clapped his hands together, "Two scenes in two days. With this speed we'll complete the movie in no time." He encouraged. "We've hooked some fine actors this time." He commented and passed them a smile. "Now, as for the weekend… You are all getting holidays but have to return to work on Monday. Have fun everybody and good job."

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A/N: Hey guys, I'm really sorry for the long wait. It's just that I don't get enough reviews on the story to keep me writing. Hello... I waste almost all of my time writing these long chapters for you guys and what do I get???? NOTHING!

Come on, review people.... everybody likes reviews! and do tell me if that Kai part about Day dreaming was a little TOO much.... =P

Anyways, thanks for reading.


	9. I believe in you

Chapter nine: "I believe in you"

"So it's settled then," Tala smiled, "we are going snow boarding this weekend."

They were all sitting in the game room. Bryan and Ray were playing versus mode in some fighting game. Spencer was busy attaching new pieces to his beyblade and Ian was the only one who was listening to Tala.

Kai had left the house after dropping Ray and Tala here from the set. He had told them that he had some business matters he had to attend to.

"Guys? Are you even listening to me?" Tala made a face when no one responded. Ian had also turned away from him and was now helping Spencer.

"GUYS!"

"Humm?" Ray responded, his eyes still glued to the screen.

"Humph!" Tala folded his hands around his chest. Was he the only one who wanted Ray to hook up with Kai? _Well technically, yes. _He answered his own question.

_And player 1 wins, _the computerized women voice was followed by a groan from Ray and victory dance by Bryan.

"I can never beat you." Ray moaned, "That's so unfair."

"Told `ya I can beat you_ anytime_ at _any_ game."

Ray narrowed his eyes at him, a small smile playing on his lips, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" Bryan confirmed.

"How about a 'show down' then?" Ray challenged.

"Hmm." Bryan's eyes became thoughtful. "How many rounds?"

"Depends on the judge."

"Who needs a _judge_?" Bryan asked skeptically. They didn't need a judge to tell who won in fighting games. The computer was smart enough for that.

"_We_ do and _Tala_ is the judge." Ray said confidently as it had been decided for a long time. Tala looked at Ray on hearing his name.

"I'm _what_?" He raised his eyebrows at Ray. Apparently, it seemed that he hadn't been listening to their conversation as Ray had assumed.

"But _he_ can't be the judge; he doesn't know _anything _about video games." Bryan pointed out.

"Hey…" Tala stared at Bryan pointedly but was ignored.

"We are not having a _video game_ showdown." Ray explained, "Just games."

"What?" Bryans asked confused. "What do you mean by _just _games?"

"Let's ask what Tala has in mind." Ray gestured towards the now appointed judge who was still struggling to guess what was going between the two. Even Ray himself didn't know what he was really talking about. What had he meant when he had said 'Just' games? He shrugged. At least now it was upon Tala to say something.

Tala looked at Ray, "Explain please."

"We're having a showdown." He said in a simple-as-that manner although his eyes were thoughtful. His mind calculating his next sentence.

Tala shook his head lightly. He knew that they were having a showdown. That much he had figured out. He took a breath, "What am _I _supposed to do?"

Ray's eyebrows rose, "Oh. You're just a judge. You have to decide the games for us to play."

"Wait." Bryan started, "Why is _he _the judge? What if we don't need one?"

"You _need _me." Tala crossed his arm around his chest and looked at Bryan crossly. "And messing with the judge can prove to be _really_ grave."

"See." Bryan said to Ray as if that's what he had been trying to tell him, "He'll cheat."

"No I won't." Tala said heatedly. Something was sure wrong with everybody today.

"You will."

"I won't."

"He won't." The two looked at Spencer who was still struggling with his beyblade. For a minute no one said anything but then Bryan sighed.

"Sure sure." Bryan mumbled, "He just _loves _to fight fair." It was like he could read Spencer's mind. All the Demolition boys knew that about Tala. No matter what, he was the only one who never cheated.

Tala smiled satisfied, "Fight fair. That's my motto from now on."

Bryan gave a small laugh before pulling his captain in a tight hug. It was really hard to stay mad at him for more than a minute.

"Eww." Tala tried to make a disgusted sound while laughing, "When was the last time you took a bath?" He didn't try to push him away.

"Hmm…" Bryan let go of Tala and tapped his fingers on his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe _never._"

Ray smiled. All the Demolition boys were laughing together. It reminded him of his own team. They all laughed together much like the Demolition boys but the only difference was that their captain never joined in. Rather, he looked annoyed whenever they joked or laughed or when they were having fun.

Ray sighed. Kai was never going to change and Ray knew that. There was nothing that could change his team captain. Not that he wanted his captain to change. His cold expressions, his anger, irritation, way of treating others was something that Ray was used to. Although the smile that suited his captain's features perfectly making his heart to melt was something that Ray wanted to see everyday rather then the scowl but he thought that Kai won't be extra ordinary if he became just like everyone else.

"So…" Tala clapped his hands. "I have just the games in mind for you two."

* * *

"Round twenty five." Tala shouted. Ray and Bryan had been having the showdown and this was the last round. Both of their scores were same. The one wining this round would be the winner. "Jump rope."

"What?" Bryan and Ray, both, looked at Tala surprised. Before every round they would look at Tala as if he was some kind of an alien.

"What?" Tala asked innocently. "I just thought that you guys needed a little exercise after all the eating you've done in the last round."

"I've never even jump roped once in my life." Ray complained. He had to win this last round to show Bryan that he could beat him.

"And not to mention that it's a girls' sport." Bryan folded his hands over his chest and shook his head lightly. "Never."

"Come on guys, I'm the judge here." Tala tried to convince them. He was sure having fun. The looks on both of their faces was just priceless.

"No way. I'd lose." Ray made a face.

"Or maybe we _could_ have jump rope." Bryan changed his mind on the thought of Ray losing.

Tala smiled widely at Bryan and clapped his hands together, "If one of the players agrees with the judge, the round is a settled matter." Tala said. "And that's my new rule."

Ray opened his mouth to protest but closed it again looking crossly at Tala, "Fine." Ray knew that he'd win. He believed in himself and he was a great jumper. Maybe that could help him and also his neko jin abilities.

"Bryan was successful in jump roping nine times without tripping." Tala announced as he took the rope from Bryan and handed it to Ray, "And now it's Ray's turn."

Ray stood up from the floor were he was sitting with the rest of the demolition boys and took the rope from Tala. He stood up in the middle of the room. His eyes met Bryan and Bryan gave him thumbs up. Ray rolled his eyes and mounted the words, 'I'd win.'

Bryan gave a small chuckle and said, aloud, "In your dreams Bro."

Ray took a deep breath holding the two ends of the rope in both of his hand. He closed his eyes and exhaled before opening them.

"And start." Just as Tala's words reached his ears, his heart started to beat faster.

His feet movement was in perfect coordination with his hand movement.

_First jump… _He counted in his head and closed his eyes, _Second jump… third jump…_

He was too busy counting his jumps that he didn't hear the front door open as Kai walked inside and stepped into the hall where they were having the showdown.

_Sixth jump… seventh jump…_

"Uh..." Kai's voice make its way into Ray's ear canal, striking the ear drum and making the impulses to reach into the auditory nerves from where they reached his brain.

_Ninth…_

And he stopped paying attention to what he was doing. His foot got caught into the rope and he fell down on the face. Due to his reflexes, he was saved from a broken nose. His mind wasn't working properly. His mind wanted to hear the sound again; Kai's voice.

He looked up to see Bryan hugging Tala happily. Ian was looking at the two smiling widely while Spencer was looking at Ray with concern. He was still sitting in his place.

Ray ignored his eyes and searched for the person whose voice had lost him but Kai was nowhere inside the room. Ray sighed and sat up straight. Maybe he had imagined it.

"Told`cha… told`cha… told`cha." Bryan laughed in the middle of jumps.

Ray smiled at Bryan to show that he was happy for him and stood up from the floor. He sighed. If only he hadn't imagined his team's captain's voice he could have been dancing and laughing instead of Bryan.

Ray extended his hand towards Bryan. He looked at Ray's extended hand for a minute before grabbing it and shaking it.

Ray smile widened as his hold on Bryan's hand increased, "Come here you." And he pulled Bryan into an embrace.

Bryan hugged back.

"Uh-hum." Tala cleared his throat and Ray let go of Bryan. Tala had seen how Kai had come in the room and Ray had lost control. Ray was wining if only Kai hadn't shown up. But Kai had left the room just as quickly as he had come after seeing Ray's jumping form.

Tala smiled as the flashback of the past few seconds played in his mind, "We've gotta pack up guys. Remember?" He looked at his team, "I promised you guys a weekend of ice skating."

"You serious?" Ian jumped up from the floor. "You're the best!"

"Are we really?" Bryan asked surprised that Tala had brought up the subject. When in summer Tala won a match against Tyson and on his team's insistence, had agreed to take them for ice skating, Bryan had thought that Tala was just messing up with them but now he seemed serious; at least he wasn't smiling evily at them.

"Of course." Tala smiled, "Ray deserves some showing around."

"You could have ditched your team earlier Ray." Ian said before walking out of the room shouting, "I'm gonna pack stuff."

"I'm going too." Bryan patted Ray's back before he walked out too just after Ian.

Ray sighed, "You don't have to do it for me Tala."

"It's no problem." Tala walked up to Ray and placed a hand over his shoulder, "Now, all you have to do is to make Kai somehow come with us."

"Ha!" Ray walked away from under his arm. "No way."

"Why do you want the kid's life to end so badly Tala?" Spencer asked jokingly.

"Shut up Spen…" Tala glared at Spencer.

"Aye aye Captain."

Tala rolled his eyes at him and turned to Ray, "Come on Ray. I know you want Kai to come just as much as I want him to." Tala insisted, _or maybe more. _He smiled to himself. "And besides, we need _his _money."

"Why do we need _Kai's_ money?" Ray asked.

"Maybe because I'm not rich." He said matter-of-factly. "And neither are you. Anyways, that's beside the point."

"But I don't want to go up to Kai alone."

"I'll cover your back, bro." Tala placed a hand over Ray's shoulder soothingly.

Ray made a face and folded his arms over his chest in a defeated manner.

"So…" Tala asked happily, "Is that a yes?"

"Do I have a choice?" Ray asked crossly.

"Let's go then."

"Wait…" Ray grabbed Tala's hand suddenly remembering something. "Where's light?" He hadn't seen him after coming from the set.

"Who? The kitten?" Tala asked impatiently. He didn't have he time of his life.

"Yeah." Ray's voice was panicky.

"Gloria took him for a walk." Tala said. "Now can we go please?"

"But he's too young for a walk…" Ray objected. "And cats don't go for walks."

"You can trust Gloria, Ray."

* * *

Ray took a deep breath and Tala patted his back encouragingly. Tala placed his hand over the door knob ready to open the door but Ray slapped it away.

Tala looked at him confused but Ray just shook his head at him. Tala shrugged and backed away a little.

Ray cleared his throat and sighed. He brought his hand slowly towards the door of Kai's room and rested it on the wooden surface for some time.

After a while, Tala started tapping his foot impatiently. When Ray didn't remove his hand, Tala looked at him and whispered, "What are you doing?"

"Shhh!" Ray placed his index finger over his lips and closed his eyes.

Tala sighed and waited but Ray didn't knock. Tala poked his skinny finger into Ray's shoulder, "What are you waiting for?"

Ray ignored him. Where his hand was placed, it seemed different from the rest of the door. It seemed hotter and he didn't felt like removing his hand from there. He could stand like this for the rest of his life loving the feeling of touching Kai's door.

Before Tala could whisper something else, the door opened reviling Kai's face.

"Yes?" He looked at Tala and then at Ray to where his hand was placed. He couldn't stop himself from noticing that his own hand was resting on the same position of the door as Ray's but on the other side. He quickly removed his hand from the door and at the same time Ray also removed his hand.

Ray furrowed his eyebrows; he hadn't heard Kai walk towards the door. Not even with his neko jin ability.

Tala took a step back from the door and smiled, "I'll leave you two alone now." He said and left before anyone of them would say anything.

Kai opened the door and walked further inside his room. Ray kept standing there cursing Tala for leaving his side.

Kai cleared his throat to gain Ray's attention, "Are you going to talk to me by standing outside?"

Ray looked at Kai; his back was to him. He hesitated before taking a step inside the room. He hadn't seen Kai's room from the inside before even though he had got a glimpse of it on his first day. Last night, it was just too dark for him to see anything clearly.

The room's walls were of a perfect red color with black carpet that made the room darker than the rest of the house. It was also chilly and cold than the rest warm house. Ray noticed that the room reminded him of Dranzer, maybe that's the reason why Kai picked up these wall paints for his room. He took another hesitant step inside. Kai was already sitting on the corner of the room.

"Close the door behind you." Kai ordered.

Hearing Kai's voice made his stomach feel butterflies inside as his intestines started to twist. He closed the door and small amount of light that was coming from the door stopped as the room suddenly grew dark.

Seeing was no problem for the neko jin's eyes but the dark was making him uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, "Can I… Can I switch on the light?" Ray's voice was barley above a whisper.

"It's the last switch on your left." Kai said simply.

Ray opened the switch as he was instructed and the whole room illuminated with brilliant white light making Ray gasp. The room was enormous. Bigger than any other room he had seen in his entire life, even bigger than the game room that Ray had thought was the biggest. At the far corner of the wall that was the only wall of white color was Dranzer's picture. It was painted on the wall. It was so beautiful. Ray was taken aback by the beauty of the painting. On the other side was huge shelf that contained many photo albums.

Ray felt Kai's eyes upon him so he looked at Kai and cleared his throat.

Kai raised an eyebrow.

"I was… uh…" Ray was feeling a little uncomfortable. He was in Kai's room and alone with him. He looked around, "We were… uh…" His eyes fell upon the large photo album sitting on the top of the shelf. The cover was of black color with a big red heart in the middle. Ray forgot about his incomplete sentence suddenly attracted towards the album. He started moving towards the self only to be stopped by Kai's clearing of throat.

Ray looked at Kai, "Mind if I see… er… your pictures?" He was sorry that he had made an attempt to look at Kai's personal stuff without his permission. After all, Kai's personal space should be respected or else… He gulped. He was in no mood of being kicked out of his captain's room.

Kai looked at the self and then at Ray to whom he nodded and then picked up the papers lying on the bedside table. It was like that least mattered to him. Ray shrugged and picked up the black colored album.

He opened it and saw that it wasn't really an album but a "my first…" (*see the A/N at the bottom)

Before picking up a few other albums from the shelf, he looked at Kai. Kai was still reading the papers in his hands.

He walked up near the bed and sat down next to the bed's foot on the carpeted floor. His back resting on one of the bed's legs. He placed the albums on the ground opening the black one. The first page contained a picture of Kai when he was about a year old. The title above the picture read, _This is me!_

Ray smiled. The small Kai was standing with his jumper on. His eyes were of same color and so were his hair. The only missing thing was the face paints. He was smiling showing his front two teeth.

On the next page was a picture of a baby wrapped in a blanket. A young woman was holding him. She looked week. The title read _my first day in this world. _

Ray was so absorbed in the book that he didn't hear Kai come closer to sit next to him until Ray heard him sigh on seeing his picture with his parents. His Father was holding the young Kai in his one arm while the other rested upon his wife. Both of Kai's parents were smiling while the young Kai slept peacefully wrapped around in a blanket.

Ray closed the album. He knew that the pictures of Kai with his parents were hurting him bad from inside even though he didn't show it.

"I… I'm really sorry Kai." Ray apologized. Kai's expressions were not bearable. He looked torn and pale. He couldn't bring himself to see Kai's face knowing that he was the one who had hurt him. There were also some traces of anger marked on Kai's perfect features.

"Don't be." Even his voice was sick.

"I really didn't know."

Kai furrowed his eyebrows, "Open the album, Ray." His expressions were hard as hatred fired up in his eyes; hatred for his grandfather who had took away his family from him.

"But I…"

"Open the fucking album, Ray." Kai snapped and Ray obeyed him scared.

Kai sighed and closed his eyes; he had to control his anger with Ray. He took a deep breath, his eyes still closed, "Look, I just want to see the pictures, Ray." He was successful in making his voice emotionless again.

"Sorry." Ray muttered. He knew that it was because of him. If only he hadn't been so curious to see Kai's photo album. He should have known better that this was going to hurt Kai. All his fault.

"That's okay." Kai opened his eyes and looked at the album on Ray's lap. He had to keep his emotions in control.

They watched the rest of it in silence; Kai smiling every now and then when he saw his parents smiling at the camera while Ray was barley paying attention to it. Kai had come even closer to Ray until he could literally feel Kai's heat. It felt nice as the room was cold.

Kai ordered Ray to open next album. Ray rested the next photo album on his knees and rested his head on the bed's soft surface as he took in each and every detail of the feeling of sitting so close next to Kai. He closed his eyes and listened to the noise of papers as Kai looked through the album. His one hand touching Ray's leg as the album was still resting on Ray's knees and Kai was too riveted to care about that.

Ray relaxed his muscles. Last night's sleep was rather disturbing and Ray had gotten only a few hours of sleep. The day was also strenuous. First all the scene shooting and then a show down with Bryan. His body was in need of a serious sleep.

Kai didn't know when Ray fell into a deep sleep. His head, that was resting on the bed surface before found its way towards Kai's shoulder and Kai's body stiffened. He looked at Ray's peaceful face from the corner of his eyes. Ray's eyes were closed and eyebrows furrowed. The position in which Ray was sitting really seemed uncomfortable.

Kai took the album from above Ray's knees and placed it on the small pile of albums beside him.

He didn't dare made a movement that would make Ray to wake up. A small portion of Ray's whole weight was resting on Kai's shoulder but it wasn't rough. Rather, it seemed pleasant to Kai.

Kai took a deep breath and kept sitting there for Ray to keep sleeping without disturbing him.

He placed his own head on Ray's. The sweet perfume of Ray's favorite shampoo filling his nostrils and he closed his eyes. All the previous anger that has been built inside of him while watching the photos slowly fading away.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to take in the smell of Ray's shampoo.

Kai looked at the wall clock. Almost two hours have past sitting like this and there was a small pain that was building itself inside Kai's shoulder where Ray's head was resting.

He, ever so slowly, placed Ray's head back on the surface of the bed. He then stood up, stretch a little to extend his stiffen shoulder muscles. He then bend down and picked up Ray's sleeping form and placed him slowly on his bed and covered his body by the blanket.

He gave Ray's sleeping form one last glance before walking out of the room closing the door beside him. He descended the stairs and found that Tala and Bryan were sitting on the dinning table.

They both looked up when they heard Kai's approaching footsteps. Tala stood up and placed his hands on his hips, "It's about time that you agreed."

"Agreed to what?" Kai asked confused. "No, I'm not agreeing to anything. This movie was the last that I agreed upon doing. Not another one."

"Pfft." Tala gave a small chuckle, "Not another movie but to what Ray said."

"Ray said?"

Tala's shoulders fell disbelievingly, "Don't tell me he didn't tell you anything!"

Kai made a face. Sure he remembered that Ray had started to say something before his eyes fell upon the album and now he was sleeping.

"What were you two doing for the last two hours if not arguing?" Tala snapped. "Making out?"

Bryan cleared his throat to keep himself from laughing. The thought of Kai making out with Ray was absurd and funny. He stood up and excused himself because he knew that it was going to become uglier than this.

"Oh come on Tala." Kai started. His cheeks burning furiously as the image of him kissing Ray formed in his mind. His heart sped faster than before as he felt himself growing weaker from the knees, "He might have forgotten." Kai took Ray's side rather than defending his own self. "He was really tired. Slept when he got the chance."

"Slept?" Tala smirked forgetting the anger. "As, in your bed?"

A shade of pink came to Kai's cheeks that was even darker than before. He cursed Tala forming him imagine stuff. He ignored Tala and sat down on the chair.

"And you slept with him?" Tala raised an eyebrow at him.

Kai looked up from the table and glared at Tala with furrowed eyebrows. That was enough. "Shut up, Tala." He whispered in a dangerous voice.

"Yeah yeah whatever." He muttered. _Another step closer… _He laughed to himself. Today was his lucky day.

Kai cleared his throat and exhaled to calm down his racing heart, "So, What should I have agreed to?"

"To going snow skating." Tala let go the subject that was all so touché to Kai. He didn't want to get in a fight with his best friend at the moment. He'd surely come up with something to make the two believe that they really liked each other and going snow skating was one of those plans.

"Pack up then." Kai stood up in a concluding manner. He didn't want to fight with Tala and besides, Ray needed some serious showing around. It was a good thing that he was asleep at the moment. At least he wouldn't be tired. "I'll ask Mr. Richard to rent a hut. We'll leave within two hours so that we can reach it in the morning."

"Where exactly are we going, again?" Tala asked. He didn't know any snow skating place that was at this much distance from Kai's house.

Kai smirked, "A surprise." He then walked out leaving Tala alone.

* * *

Kai phoned Mr. Richard and told him to rent a hut from them. He also told him to take care of the house and inform the director of the movie that they won't be able to come on Monday as they'll be too tired.

"Anything else, master Kai?"

"Yes. Please come here with some clothes of Ray's size. A coat too." Kai cleared his throat, "Ray catches cold really fast."

"I'll be right there." With that the call ended.

He knew that by now all the demolition boys would be packing their things. He'd have to pack his own things too but he was afraid to make any noise that would wake Ray up. So, first he decided to take a bath before packing his things.

He needed to be perfectly awake if he wanted to drive all night. He took a pair of comfortable trousers and walked into the bathroom.

He opened the water tap, it was cold just the way he liked it to be. He washed his face with the cold water and looked at himself into the mirror. He had not been wearing face paints for three days now just because of the movie. He wanted to wear them. His crimson eyes weren't as cold as he remembered seeing them. There was something hidden deep inside of his perfect red orbs. Even he didn't know what it was. They were some how a little warm.

He cleared his clouded thoughts and composed his expressions into a straight cold face much like he remembered. Nothing was different, everything was just the same.

He opened the tap of the bathtub. And waited till it was full.

He undressed and walked into it.

The water felt unnaturally good. His hair falling over his forehead and face.

He took his time in taking a long, cold bath. He dressed into the trousers and walked up to the mirror. The towel, as usual, on his shoulders. He looked at his face for a brief second before picking up the face paints from beside the sink and applying them on his face. His usual hair gel was also placed but he had to wait for his hair to dry before he would apply it too.

After giving his image another glance, _aren't I caring about my face a little too much today, _he walked out.

The first thing his eyes fell upon was Ray's body curled up in a ball on the bed much like a kitten. _He must be cold; _Kai thought and picked up the remote to raise the temperature of the room a little.

He took out his traveling bag from the cupboard and started placing his clothes inside it. His favorite T-shirt with black half sleeved jacket and pants, his white scarf and red and black compact boots **(A/N: You know… Kai's usual outfit)** werethe first things he placed in it. He hadn't worn these clothes after the tournament. After that, a pair of shorts for wearing after taking a bath. Then some comfortable pants, his sneakers and a sleeveless black shirt and an overcoat. That would be enough for the weekend.

There was a small knock on the door. He walked up to the door and opened it. Mr. Richard was standing there with a carrying bag in his hands.

"I got Mr. Kon's clothes all packed up."

"Thank you." Kai extended his hand and took the bag from him. "You can go now. I'm really thankful."

"My pleasure." Mr. Richard smiled at Kai and walked away. Kai closed the door and placed Ray's bag beside his own. As compared to his own bag, Ray's felt too stuffed. _At least he won't catch a cold while we're there._

He looked at his watch; there was another half an hour left before it was time for them to start the journey. He looked around his room and found the photo albums still lying there. He picked the pile up from the carpeted floor, from beside the bed, to place them on the self.

The door of his room opened and Tala walked inside. He sat down on the bed, "I'm all done." He announced.

"Hmmm."

"Your room's a little warm today, isn't it?" Tala asked with a wide grin as his eyes fell upon Ray's sleeping form.

"Don't wake him up, Tala." Kai warned and a smile spread across Tala's face. Kai made an attempt to turn and glare at him but the album from above the pile fell down with a loud thud.

Kai groaned and picked it up and placed the pile back on the shelf.

They heard the noise of something shuffling and Ray sat up straight and looked around to see Tala and Kai in the room. He looked closely and saw that it was Kai's room and he was in Kai's bed. The room was filled with Kai's smell and it felt nice.

Ray looked at Kai and saw that he was wearing only trousers and his hair were half wet and half dry. They were straight falling over his face. He was even wearing his face paints and looked like the old Kai, not the one who was doing the movie for Tala.

Kai noticed Ray's eyes upon his face and beginning to feel uncomfortable. He ran a hand through his hair.

Tala cleared his throat, feeling the tension between the both. "So, had a nice sleep there?" He asked Ray trying to lighten up the mood.

Kai smiled a little, leave it to Tala to make it all perfect again for you.

"Yeah." Ray yawned and rubbed his eyes. "I really needed it." Ray placed his feet on the carpeted floor and looked at Kai and smiled, "Thanks for the… uh…" He blushed. What was he supposed to say? That he was thankful that Kai had shared his bed with him?

Tala clapped his hands, "Come on, get dressed Ray."

"What?" Ray looked at him confused.

"We're going snow skating." Tala announced happily. He then looked at Kai and winked.

Tala stood up and walked out taking Ray with him.

* * *

A/N: Hmmm… the "My first…" book right? Let's see, I'm not quite sure but its something like… you know the one which the parents fill for their baby. Like, I grew my first tooth when I was --- years old. Or like when I first started walking or the date and photo of my first day at school and stuff. Hope you guys got what I mean.

Anyways, I really hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and to the ones who read it. Please, Review guys. Like you guys look forward to the next chapters… I always look forward to your reviews. R&R guys, R&R!


	10. Perfect little accident

Chapter ten: Perfect little accident.

Kai placed the last bag in the car and stepped aside. He picked up the coffee cup from the roof of the car and gulped down the last sip. Everything was set according to plan; they were ready to go.

Kai walked back inside the house, "Ready?" He called out.

"Let's go." He heard Ian's happy voice which was followed by hooting from Bryan and a smack on Bryan's head by Spencer. They all seemed pretty happy about this trip even though it was late in night. Tala was having a conversation with Gloria about something while Ray was listening to them holding a mass of something fluffy wrapped up in the blanket; _light_.

Kai walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder to inform him about his presence. Ray turned around to look at him and managed a small smile, "The kitten's back from the walk."

Kai nodded and let go of his shoulder, "let's leave." He couldn't believe that Ray was so attracted to cats.

Ray nodded and walked towards the main door of the house where the other demolition boys have disappeared.

"Bye then?" Tala ran a hand through his hair looking uncomfortably at Gloria who nodded and then pulled Tala into a tight hug.

"Can't breathe, Gloria." Tala whispered taking in big gulps of air as the old woman applied more force on Tala's body.

Gloria let him go then looked at Kai who shook his head lightly and mumbled, "I'm fine."

"Okay then." She said, "Have a safe trip and don't fall asleep while driving please."

"Sure sure." Tala muttered. "I'll keep him up all night. Don't worry." He winked at Gloria who gave a small laugh.

"And call us when you reach."

"Hmm." Kai nodded.

"You sure that you're not forgetting anything?" Gloria asked concerned evident from her voice.

"Don't worry Gloria, we'll be fine." Kai confirmed then looked at the wrist watch, they were getting late. "You stay safe too." He managed a small smile on his lips to make the old lady feel like she held importance too.

Gloria nodded and Kai and Tala both walked out, Tala giving her a wave. On the door was standing Mr. Richard who gave them a nod, "Stay safe."

"Sure Mr. Richard." Tala patted the old man's shoulder and smiled at him.

"Master Kai?"

"Yes?" Kai turned around and looked at him.

"I've also placed a map if you need." Mr. Richard informed him.

"Thanks." Kai smiled at him.

"My pleasure." He smiled back. "You should get going now." He gave Tala half armed hug.

"All set?" Tala asked. He was sitting on the passenger's seat beside the driving seat where Kai was sitting glaring at him to hurry up. Tala gave him a look and Kai focused his eyes on the steering wheel, smiling. There was something wrong; Kai seemed to be in a rather joyful mood.

"Bryan?"

"Present sir!" Bryan said and gave Tala a salute with a wide grin who was looking at him from the rearview mirror. Bryan still couldn't believe that his captain had kept his word.

Tala rolled his eyes at him, "Spencer?" He asked and waited for his teammate to answer. After a few seconds when he said nothing, Tala turned around in his seat and looked at him in the eyes, "Spen?"

Spencer gave a smirk, "What?"

"You have to say present." Tala narrowed his eyes at him.

"But you know that I'm here."

"Humph!" Tala looked away from him. "Ian?"

"Here." Ian answered.

Tala turned around in his seat to face the front again and clapped his hand, "Let's go then." He looked at Kai. _I hope my plan works. _He smiled at him.

Tala had forgotten about Ray and Kai didn't blame him. Traveling with Kai and his team for about a million times had made it his habit to make sure that every member of his team was present. It was just that Ray was traveling with them for the first time and Kai assumed that all the excitement had made Tala forget about Ray's presence.

Kai looked back at Tala not starting the vehicle. _Maybe he'll remember._

Kai didn't want to remind him aloud or that would make Ray feel embarrased.

"What?" Tala asked innocently when Kai kept staring at him. Kai didn't look away and kept Tala's gaze, his face expressionless. Tala sighed, "Oh." He nodded in understanding and Kai smiled a little in encouragement. He knew that Tala would never make Ray feel bad.

"Kai?" Tala asked much like he had asked everyone else. Tala had to bite his lower lip from keeping himself from laughing when Kai's expressions became disbelieving. So, his plan _was _working. Any moment now Kai was going to take Ray's name.

Kai smacked his head with his hand before he shook his head lightly at Tala and ignored his funny expressions. He looked at Ray from the rearview mirror. He was sitting in the middle of Bryan and Spencer and was talking with Bryan about something. So that meant that Ray hadn't notice that Tala hadn't called out his name.

Kai took a deep breath; he's do it himself, "Ray?"

Ray looked up a little too quickly on hearing Kai's voice calling his name. "Yes?"

Kai shook his head. What was _wrong_ with him? He knew perfectly well that Ray was present in the car and that they weren't leaving him so why then confirm? Because Tala hasn't called out his name? That was stupid.

Ray looked at the back of Kai's seat suspiciously, "Yes Kai?"

Tala smirked. "It's nothing kitten." And then something hit him. They were taking the small fluffy ball with them too. Tala turned in his seat and looked at Ray's hands, the kitten was looking here and there as if trying to figure out what it was in which he was sitting. Ray smiled at Tala and rubbed the cat's head lightly with his fingers. The small kitten closed his eyes and purred lightly. Tala smiled at Ray, "I've gotta admit, the thing's cute."

"It's not a thi-"

Kai turned the keys and the engine started cutting Ray off in midsentence, "Everybody ready?" and before anyone could answer, Kai pressed his foot on the accelerator and the car started gaining speed.

Tala turned in his seat, resting his head on the headrest and yawned heavily, "What is the time again?"

"It's almost 1'oclock." Spencer answered.

"You're not allowed to sleep Tala." Ian warned. His eyelids were heavy too. They were all worn out but hadn't realized it in excitement. Now that they were in the car knowing that by morning they'd be in the hut that Kai had rented, they had no worries. All they had to do was close their eyes and sleep.

"Why?" Tala asked not even moving a muscle. He closed his eyes and yawned again.

"Whose gonna stay awake with K-" Ian started.

"Thanks for the concern Ian but I can keep myself awake as long as I want." Kai assured. "You guys have nothing to worry about."

_Perfect, the victory goes to player-_

"Would you please mute that thing Bryan?" Spencer hit his head from behind Ray.

Bryan looked up from the video game and at Ray, "What was that for?"

Ray looked back, confused, "Uh… what?"

Spencer patted Ray's back, "it's nothing Kon and you keep that thing muted."

"Yeah whatever." Bryan turned back to his game making a face at Spencer.

Ray looked at his hands feeling uncomfortable. The silence between the two teammates was a calm one as Kai drove silently while Ray took in Bryan's snoring and Spencer's soft and steady breathing as they slept on both of his sides. He looked out the window as the car ever so steadily moved on the major road leading from Moscow to some other city.

Ray looked uneasily at Bryan whose head was resting on his shoulder. After a few tries of making his head move which would fall on his shoulder again and again; he gave up.

"He snores just like Tyson." Ray couldn't help but notice, "And sleeps like him too."

"Hmm." Kai nodded his head absentmindedly. He wasn't so sure if Ray could see it.

"Tyson's so funny sometimes." Ray smiled remembering his buddy, "when one time we were travelling through the train to the tournament area and Tyson slept and had a bad dream," He didn't know if Kai still remembered it or not so he went on, "And when Max shook him to wake him up, he started running in the whole train screaming that he was on fire. Man, that was so funny and Tyson still gets embraced." Ray laughed.

Kai nodded again and looked at Ray from the mirror. Ray had a nice smile. He shook his head, what was he thinking? He focused his gaze on the road again. "You really miss the guys, don't you?"

"Yeah Kindda." Ray looked at the back of Kai's head, "It's just that I think it would've been more fun if they were here too."

Kai sighed and said nothing once again leading both of them to silence.

Ray adjusted himself in the seat a few times. Only Kai and he himself was awake; this was one of those golden moments when you could know a little better about Kai but his captain wasn't giving him chance to talk to him. It seemed that he wanted him to stay silent too.

Ray took a deep breath and looked around searching for something to start a conversation on.

"You like living with Tala and the others?" Ray asked. He didn't know what else to say. Before Kai could say anything, Ray's eyes fell upon the map lying on the front board for keeping things. "Can I see it?" Ray asked. He loved reading maps.

"It would ruin the surprise." Kai answered his voice emotionless.

Ray placed the kitten from his hands to Spencer's lap. The kitten opened his eyes and yawned showing his small pointy teeth. Ray rubbed his head with his thumb before turning to Kai, "I don't even know the names of the cities so why does it matter?" Ray asked and leaned forward to take the map himself. He popped his head in the middle of the two front seats and extended his hand to pick the map up just as the car took a sharp turn. Ray grabbed Kai's shirt to steady himself. Kai, who wasn't ready for the sudden jerk lost control due to the force with which Ray was pulling him towards him.

It seemed like the world has started moving in slow motion as Ray felt his head touch Tala's lap. His fingers never left Kai's fabric. The red eyes stared at him, surprised as Kai fought to control himself. His face was inches away from Ray's and was moving closer and closer by every passing second. Ray closed his eyes, _Shit shit shit, this can't be happening. _He could feel Kai's warm breath wash over his face just as their lips met with each other. _I'm so dead!_

Ray forgot about everything else. This was his first kiss and he had shared it with Kai, his captain. The last person he would have thought about sharing it with. It was like his whole body was suddenly on fire and still Ray could feel nothing but Kai's warm lips that were burning against his skin. His heart seemed to be punching his chest as if asking his ribs to burst open so that it could leave. He had never thought that Kai's lips were so smooth and soft and that they would match his so perfectly. He didn't even notice when the car stopped in the middle of the almost deserted road with a jolt and Kai's arms wrap around him protectively to keep them both from falling on the floor of the car.

Kai was the one who pulled away. Before their lips had met, Kai's foot had found its way towards the break paddle.

Kai cleared his throat and let go of Ray's body, unwrapping his hands and moved away giving him room to sit up from Tala's lap.

_Shit! Tala must be…_

He looked up dreadfully at Tala's face. It was peaceful, eyes close as if he was still asleep unaware of anything. Kai took out a breath that he was holding and ran his hand through his hair. Nobody had seen them like this. He then looked at Ray who was staring at him, his eyes as wide as pancakes.

Ray stood up hurriedly and moved towards the back seat, sitting in his original position. He was still not over the fact that he had just _kissed _Kai. His cold and aloof captain. Was that even possible, kissing Kai? Shouldn't he be dead by now? Why wasn't Kai saying something?

"Ah…" Bryan rubbed his head and picked himself from the floor of the car. "What just happened?"

Spencer rubbed his eyes and looked down at his lap, "Shit Ray, the cat's digging its nails in my pants."

"He must be scared." Kai answered his voice a little unsteady and stepped on the accelerator just as Ray pulled out light's nails from the fabric of Spencer's pants and rubbed his hand over his soft skin. His cheeks were still burning.

Ray wrapped the kitten in the blanket once again and placed his head on the seat. He needed sleep, maybe it would be all be _right_ again in the morning.

Kai again looked at Tala from the corner of his eyes. He was feeling uncomfortable. How was it possible that all of them had woken up because of the bolt except Tala. _Is he playing around? _But why would he do that? If Tala had seen them kiss, he would be laughing at them, not sleeping. Kai shrugged, _He must be really tired._

He looked at the other in the mirror; Spencer was staring at Ray skeptically while Bryan was listening to music, his ears covered with headphones, eyes closed as he tried to fall back to sleep. Kai ignored looking at Ray. Ian was looking here and there confused. Kai smiled, "We're not there yet Ian. Sleep."

"But the je-"

"I must have fallen asleep or something." Kai lied.

Ian shrugged and placed his head on the glass window, looking out.

When Kai could no longer resist looking at Ray, he looked at the neko jin's face. Even though it was still dark outside, Kai could see Ray's cheeks red and could feel him radiating heat. His eyebrows were furrowed as if he was thinking with concentration. His expressions puzzled as if he was thinking about a disturbing thought. Kai sighed, _This is so wrong, how am I gonna face him now?_

Kai stepped out of the car that was now standing in front of a small hut and stretched. His body muscles were all stiff from driving the whole night. He took out the mobile phone from his pants pocket and dialed Ross's number.

"Mr. Hiwatari?"

"Yes Ross. I'm sorry for disturbing you but…"

"No it's alright Mr. Hiwatari."

"I just wanted to inform you that we just reached."

"Oh. Gloria is sitting next to me. She was worried that something might have happened. You are actually fifteen minutes late than I assumed." Ross explained.

"There is nothing to worry about. Just tell me, where would I find the keys?" Kai asked looking back at the car. The others were still asleep.

"I've placed them in the car's dashboard."

"Thanks Ross."

"Anytime." And with that Kai ended the call and placed the gadget back in his pocket.

Kai opened the front door of the car and took out the keys from the dashboard. He then walked towards the hut and opened the front door. The sun was rising slowly casting a beautiful effect on the surroundings.

Kai shook Tala lightly who opened his eyes at once. Kai glared at him suspiciously. If he was such a light sleeper how could he have stayed asleep when the car had stopped suddenly on their way? Tala ran a hand through his hair, "What?"

Kai shook his head lightly, what has gotten into him? "Nothing. It's just that we're here."

Tala looked around and stepped out of the car taking in deep breaths, "Finally, some fresh air!"

"Now wake the others up. I'm going in."

"I'm not touching that thing." Tala shot back.

"Are you scared? Han, Tala?" Bryan shook the little kitten in front of Tala's face.

"Get away from me Bryan; you stink." Tala complained and took a few steps away from him. He did have a bad breath because of the onion salad that he just had.

_Meow, _the little thing looked at Bryan helplessly.

_Light? _Ray opened his eyes slowly. What was going on around here? Where was he? He looked around and found himself lying in front of the chimney fire, a warm blanket covering his body.

"So, you're finally up?" Bryan asked and dropped the kitten on the wooden floor which landed perfectly on its feet. Light looked at Ray for a split second before taking hurried steps towards him. He sat next to Ray and started licking himself.

"We're here already?" Ray asked looking at Bryan who was now taking small sips from the cup that he was holding.

"Already?" Tala offered the cup in his right hand to Ray who took it thankfully and starting sipping from the other one. "It's like we had been traveling for a year and anyways we reached this place two hours earlier."

"And no one woke me up?" Ray looked at the two standing in front of him. They both looked at each other before bursting into laughter. "What's so funny?" Ray asked confused.

Tala nudged his elbow in Bryan's ribs and wiped a tear from his eye, "_It's_ so funny!"

Ray placed the cup on the floor beside him, "What's so funny?" he demanded.

"Wait…"Bryan looked around searching for something and then lay down on the nearest sofa.

Tala controlled his laughter and made a serious face wrapping around a cloth on his neck. He took a few steps towards Bryan who was acting like he was asleep, his eyes closed. Tala picked Bryan up from the sofa in his arms and looked at Ray, his face so cold that for a second Ray thought that the old Tala who had fought them in the championships was back. "Here, Ray shouldn't catch a cold neither do I want him to wake up because of any noise." Tala dropped Bryan on his feet who stood up and looked at Tala angrily, "Why me?"

Tala controlled his laughter, "Because I'm Kai and I can order people around!"

And they both burst into laughter again.

"I heard that Tala." Kai walked into the hall and sat down on the sofa on which Bryan had been lying. He opened the book in front of him and started reading never once looking at Ray. Ray looked down at his hands, so Kai had asked them that he shouldn't wake up? But why? Kai never cared about anything and for all he knew, the little kiss that Ray had shared with Kai meant nothing to Kai.

He picked up his cup of hot chocolate and started sipping it down. He looked at Kai once again, _reading glasses?_ Kai was wearing glasses. He had never seen him wear glasses before and he had to admit, Kai was looking hot in them.

"So, where should I change?" Ray asked standing up.

Tala looked at Ray then at Kai and mumbled, "Kai's room, your room what's the difference?"

Ray having the ability to hear sounds of less frequency blushed furiously and Kai looked away from the book and at Tala with a raised eyebrow. His face perfectly composed while his eyes were throwing draggers at him, "Come again."

"Uh… I mean," He looked at Ray and smiled, "You're allowed to change in my room if you don't want to in yours."

Kai stood up, "you know, it was _your _brilliant idea that me and Ray should share a room. I was perfectly fine with _you._" Kai hissed at Tala, gave Ray a death glare as if it was his entire fault and walked out.

Ray sat down on the wooden floor and placed his head in his hands, "He's mad at me, right?" Ray groaned.

Tala sat down beside Ray and patted his back, "Why would he be mad at _you?_" He comforted Ray, "No body's mad at you. He just has a lot in mind, that's all."

"You don't understand Tala." Ray recalled the memory of last night. Kai was mad at him. He had no right to kiss Kai. Had he forgotten about his personal space? _I should be thankful that he's giving me shelter and providing me food and safety. If he wasn't here who know what would have happened to me._

"That was an accident." Tala said as if he knew exactly what Ray was thinking about.

"Yeah dude, let it go." Bryan encouraged and placed his cup on the small round table just a few feet away from the sofa and walked out giving Ray thumbs up.

Ray looked up at Tala wide eyed. How did they find out about last night? Last time he had checked Tala and Bryan had both been asleep. In fact, no one had been awake so did that mean that Kai had told them that Ray tried to make his move? _But I'm guiltless, that _was _an accident._

Tala smirked, "Kai losing control was an accident, don't you think?"

Ray nodded slowly still looking at Tala suspiciously.

"Now stop staring at me like that, will you?" Tala stood up and dusted his pants then offered his hand to Ray so that he would stand up.

Ray accepted it and stood up.

Kai literally wanted to punch himself when he saw Ray sit down on the floor. He had upset Ray. Then he shook his head, why was he caring about Ray all of a sudden. What happened that night was nothing. It wasn't like Kai haven't kissed before. But kissing Ray was something that was totally different.

_Argh! _Kai smacked his hand over his head. What was wrong with him for the past few days? _Maybe I'm a little dizzy._

He watched as Tala stood up and offered his hand to Ray. You could leave it to Tala to make it all better again, Kai smiled as they both started walking towards the opposite direction where Bryan's and Tala's room was.

"You can use my washroom for the day." Kai heard Tala's fading voice. He took a breath and smiled, at least Tala was there to make Ray feel better. Kai had been a jerk for saying stuff like that. He had said the last sentence like he had been forced to share a room with Ray while he was more than happy to share it with him whether he admit it or not. And no, he didn't want to admit it so he didn't.

Kai sighed and walked towards his own room and closed the door behind him. He placed his glasses on the bedside table and laid down on the king sized bed and looked up at the ceiling, a million thoughts running through his mind at the same time.

Kai recalled when he had overheard Tyson and Ray's conversation while they were still in Japan staying in Tyson's dojo.

"Why don't you answer back Ray?" Tyson had asked after Kai had insulted Ray on his bad beyblading skills. Tyson had thought that Kai was out of earshot, "You answer me and Max and even Hillary sometimes."

"I don't wanna talk about it Tyson." Ray had said and had turned away from Tyson and had started walking towards Tyson's house.

"Come on Bud, you're gonna get nothing if you don't fight for something you want. Don't you want Kai to respect you?" And how wrong Tyson was, Kai had respected Ray from the day he had met him. He just didn't want to treat him any differently than the others.

"It's just that…" Ray had stopped moving and was looking at the ground, "I don't want to fight back." He had whispered and had moved away.

Kai sighed heavily; _I'm just the same as I was three years ago. _It wasn't that he wanted to change, no. He wanted to remain the same and be a better person than he was now.

Kai heard footsteps coming towards the room. He placed the book on the bedside table and closed his eyes thinking that it was Ray. He didn't want to give him a hard time.

He heard the door open and the person walked in, "I know you're not sleeping Kai." Kai heard Tala's voice and took in a breath of relief.

"Ever heard of knocking?" He sat up and picked up the book from the table. Tala shook his head and walked up to the bed and lay down beside Kai, on his belly. Tala's head was in his hands as his elbows resting on the bed carrying the weight.

"Ray's taking a bath in _my _washroom." Tala said and stared closely at Kai's face.

"Hmm…" Kai blinked a few times trying to make out the words written on the page. "So why are _you _here? Don't you want to take a bath_ with_ him?" Kai asked uninterestingly, never looking up.

"I would but I thought that you'd mind." Tala smirked Kai looked up at him with a raised eyebrow closing the book in his hands showing Tala that he had his full attention now. "Anyways…" Tala changed the subject, "What made you wear the glasses today?"

"I couldn't see properly." Kai explained then looked at Tala suspiciously. He knew that Kai had been suggested to wear reading glasses.

"That's understandable. I mean, the doc suggested you those glasses two years back." Tala shrugged.

"I never really found the need to use them back then." Kai turned back to the book. It seemed that Tala wouldn't be an ass for some time.

"The kid mentioned something about you lookig nice in glasses."

Kai raised an eyebrow at him.

"I thought that your team also knew about you wearing glasses."

_Ray thinks I look good in glasses? _"No they don't." Kai then looked closely at Tala narrowing his eyes at him, "You know what happened, don't you?"

Tala looked at Kai innocently and raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner, "What?"

"Don't play dumb now Tala." Kai pressed on, "I know I felt you looking at us. You pretended to sleep through the whole way, didn't you?"

"Big whoop, it was a small kiss." Tala said uncaringly, "And besides, it was an accident. It doesn't matter…" He looked at Kai and moved his head a little to the side, "To me maybe. But it _should _matter to you. And I was in no mood to embarrass Ray."

"It doesn't matter to me, Tala. You're right, it _was _a small kiss." Kai picked up the glasses from the bedside table and wore them. "And why should it matter to me?"

"Oh I don't know, It's not like you l-" Tala stopped in the midsentence. One word and this could turn out to be really ugly. "I think Ray might be looking for his clothes."

Tala stood up from the bed, grabbed Ray's bag from the corner of the room, gave Kai a wink and walked out.

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A/N: SOOOO? okay i should be apologizing for the uh.. not updating thingy and all but hey! Ray got to kiss KAI! Hehehe... *Nervous laugh*

Do review guys, puh-leez! I'll be waiting..


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